Following the approval of a tax hike of approximately 23 percent in December, the Stansbury Service Agency board approved its general fund budget and capital facilities budget during its meeting Wednesday night.
The $1.7 million general fund budget includes additional revenue and expenses from the Stansbury Golf Course, which the service agency has owned but assumed direct control of on Dec. 1.
Trustee Mike Johnson asked how the golf course budget line items were formulated by Trustee Brenda Spearman, general manager Gary Jensen and office manager Tracey Schmidtke. Spearman said they used figures provided by the former leasee, Jeff Green, then adjusted them to err on the conservative side.
“We brought some of the numbers down,” Spearman said. “So some of the revenue numbers we brought down, but the expense numbers we brought up.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Schmidtke suggested increasing the salary line for the golf course to hire additional staff. The two full-time employees, the superintendent and golf pro, would split $90,000 of the $120,000 budgeted for golf course salaries, and Jensen said an assistant to Green, who is now the superintendent, would earn about $35,000 in salary.
“We’re considering putting one on with Jeff (Green) to learn all of the areas he does,” Jensen said. “I’ve interviewed a couple (candidates). We can’t pay them what they want but they’re willing to settle for something less.”
Johnson questioned the need for an additional full-time employee at the golf course. Trustee Glenn Oscarson said Salt Lake County’s golf courses usually have four full-time employees, as a point of reference.
“I worry that this is going to become a black hole of our revenue,” Johnson said.
“I think these first few years it will be, unfortunately,” Spearman said.
Johnson later made a motion to approve the general fund budget, amended to include an additional $15,000 in the golf course salaries and $10,000 to the employee benefits. A transfer to the capital improvement fund was reduced by $25,000 to offset the increase, down from $61,328 to $36,328.
The service agency board also tinkered with the capital facilities budget, increasing the projected expenses by $300,000 to $1.7 million for the coming year. The changes included an additional $100,000 for renovations to the Stansbury Clubhouse and adjusting the expenses of the state Route 138 underpass to better reflect the remaining expenses on the project.
The $125,000 budgeted for work on the clubhouse includes replacing the windows and flooring throughout the building. Jensen said the building has water coming in from various places, including the windows, which are single pane and not finished properly in the original construction. Due to the deficiencies, water is leaking in around the windows and getting into the walls, he said.
Jensen said the $170,000 set aside for park improvements should be enough to begin the development of Schooner Park by putting down sod and installing irrigation.
“We can actually get rid of the eyesore and at least make it usable,” Jensen said.
The trustees brought expenses on the overpass project up to $950,000, which is the anticipated construction cost. An additional $100,000 in grants received by the service agency and $200,000 in impact fees, combined with the previously budgeted $550,000 in grants, will cover the cost.
Both the capital facilities budget and general fund budget were approved unanimously by the board.