Clint Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, argues here that Phoenix should sell its six city owned and operated golf courses.
Cities argue that
municipally owned businesses can turn a profit and offer a desirable
service. Then why doesn’t Phoenix open up gas stations and sell fuel at
subsidized costs? By contrast to golf courses, that might actually help
working people make ends meet.Trust me, I’m not suggesting that
cities get into more businesses. Rather, cities should stick to
providing essential public services like police and fire, and leave it
to the private sector to furnish the goodies.Phoenix ought to
sell its golf courses and collect taxes on them to fund the essential
services that are in such dire straits. Or perhaps they can use the
proceeds to provide a “golf course dividend” rebate to taxpayers, who
can use it to pay their mortgages, buy food–or among the lucky, play
golf.
North Carolina’s cities are also in the golf course business. JLF reports show that they lose lots of taxpayer money. The JLF “City and County Issue Guide 2008” summarizes the losses noting Thomasville lost more than $600,000 per year and Wilson lost more than $200,00 per year. For complete details see JLF reports on golf courses owned and operated by these cities: Thomasville, Lexington, Wilson, Burlington, Gastonia, Goldsboro, Mooresville and Sanford.
