Imagine if a neighbor you’ve never met knocked on your door, said he was going golfing tomorrow and asked you to chip in $5 towards his game.

It’s probably safe to say most people would refuse the request.

But as strange as that scenario sounds, it kind of happens each year in Winnipeg. Well, your neighbour doesn’t actually knock on your door, and you don’t get to decide if you want to ‘chip in’ for his golf game - you have to pay for it through your property taxes.

Surprisingly, city hall owns a dozen golf courses. Most of them, like Tuxedo golf course, are run by private businesses so we don’t often think of them as government courses. However, four of the 12 courses around Winnipeg are operated or maintained by city staff and they lose almost a million dollars each year.

Those losses are then paid for with property tax revenue; that’s where your “donation” comes in.

Fortunately, some councilors at city hall are trying to slash the golf course losses each year by hiring a private business to run them. City hall can then use the savings for services we expect from government; such as fixing our potholed roads.

Needless to say, the city’s plan has come up against a few roadblocks; such as the city’s largest union. They’re worried about losing union members and the dues that come from those jobs. Union bosses don’t work for free, they need members to pay dues to fund their salaries and fund their political activities around town.

Incredibly, the union has tried to suggest the city-run courses actually make money right now.

But if you pull out “Appendix 2” from the city’s report on its golf courses, you’ll see in black and white that the four city courses in question lost a combined $872,167 in 2011. One can play with the numbers all they want, but the reality is the city has been losing large sums of money year after year.

One reason is the city’s golf course labour costs are higher than most private courses. According to the city’s audit report, labour costs at the four city-operated or maintained courses ate up 63 per cent of gross revenues, whereas the Canadian industry standard is only 38 per cent.

Make no mistake, city hall hasn’t been perfect as they moved forward with this plan; the $90,000 ad campaign was, at the very least, ill thought out.

However, like the saying goes, one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water. The city’s plan is expected to return an overall positive net impact of over $7 million during the next ten years alone.

If the public speaks up and gives council a much deserved ‘pat on the back’ for their overall golf plan, they’ll feel more confident about looking for even more savings around the city instead of just charging you higher taxes.

It’s important to speak out against poor government decisions, but it’s equally important to give politicians encouragement when they pursue good decisions. So “fore” goodness sakes, call or email your councillor and tell them to support this plan.

.