WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Where do the Watertown City Council candidates stand on the future of the Thompson Park Golf Course?<\/p>\n
Year 3 of running the golf course just wrapped up, and the numbers aren\u2019t in. <\/p>\n
In year one, it lost close to $300,000. Year 2, a loss of $260,000. <\/p>\n
The 4 Watertown City Council candidates are waiting to see how the course did. If it continues to lose money, the candidates feel there\u2019ll be a time to cut the city\u2019s losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it does not break even by the end of next season, I would vote to close it,\u201d said Anthony Velazquez.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ve got to give them 3-4 years, 5 years, and at that point, if they\u2019re not pretty darn close to negative, then I think we\u2019ve got to look at some serious alternative – I don\u2019t want to close it next year,\u201d said Pete Monaco.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to assess it, but I think we need to give it a few more years to determine that,\u201d said Doug Osborne.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lean towards if we\u2019re going to, if it\u2019s close to breaking even, we commit to two to three years of trying to run it,\u201d said Shane Garrabrant.<\/p>\n
If the city doesn\u2019t run it, candidates offered up ideas like leasing the golf business to someone else, or other ways to get it off city books.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou pursue every avenue. I think, see if we can get a lease. See if we can sell it off,\u201d said Garrabrant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be able to sell it. Maybe lease it out? I oughta believe we\u2019re probably not going to get any huge money without leasing it out,\u201d said Monaco.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land value up there is extremely high. I personally would have been in favor of putting townhouses up there,\u201d said Velazquez.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should look into potentially leasing it. If there\u2019s an interested party in leasing it, then we can shed those reoccurring operational costs that we are currently undertaking now,\u201d said Osborne.<\/p>\n
Early voting is underway, with Election Day on November 4.<\/p>\n
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