The city council met last night to discuss the discussion of absorbing the park district and its functions into Carbondale city operations, rather than continuing to have the park district continue to operate as a separate entity. From what I have heard, despite the discussion about this in the media, only 8 people had enough interest to show up to the meeting.
From what I can tell, one of the big sticking points to any agreement is Hickory ridge Golf course, which has hemorrhaged money for decades and shows no sign of stopping. Almost all local school teams have abandoned the course to practice at other facilities so no fees from schools coming in. The Park District has also maxed out the amount of property tax it can raise without going back to the voters and asking for a tax increase. Given the level of taxes in Carbondale already and with no plan in place to deal with Hickory Ridge, I doubt the Park District could make a good case for another property tax increase.
Not sure how the process would go but seems to me the best thing the district could do is put Hickory Ridge up for sale and let a private developer deal with it and take the revenues freed up from that for some much needed maintenance on other park properties.
From what I can tell, one of the big sticking points to any agreement is Hickory ridge Golf course, which has hemorrhaged money for decades and shows no sign of stopping. Almost all local school teams have abandoned the course to practice at other facilities so no fees from schools coming in. The Park District has also maxed out the amount of property tax it can raise without going back to the voters and asking for a tax increase. Given the level of taxes in Carbondale already and with no plan in place to deal with Hickory Ridge, I doubt the Park District could make a good case for another property tax increase.
Not sure how the process would go but seems to me the best thing the district could do is put Hickory Ridge up for sale and let a private developer deal with it and take the revenues freed up from that for some much needed maintenance on other park properties.
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