Non-Golf HOA members are subsidizing our Golf Club. It’s only getting worse, and you won’t get a vote.
You did not get a vote on the Golf Restaurant Subsidy Program that began in 2020 and keeps growing every year (2020: $300k, 2021: $470k, 2022: $807k). It’s easy to keep finding more things to throw in the “Restaurant Loss Bucket,” especially if you are incentivized because the non-golfers are paying half of all your losses. I’m sure creative accounting will continue dumping more and more “losses” that non-golfers will pay.
You did not get a vote on the Golf Restaurant and Snack Bar Planning Subsidy of $450,000 (approved January 12, 2023, with only one non-golf Board Member voting “no”). Remember the community confidence vote for the “Covenant Club” planning of $350k? I guess when all of the Board Members, except one, are golf members who are confused about whom they represent, this is what happens.
You are not getting a vote on the $9 million Golf Restaurant and Snack Bar Renovation that you are most certainly going to pay for out of your Association dues, because the Golf Restaurant is deemed to be an amenity for all members. How many of you non-golfers go out to eat at the Golf Restaurant? How often? Are you happy to subsidize the golfers who get to keep their golf dues lower than neighboring clubs? Because, yup, you guessed it, your HOA dues are supporting their golf dues.
The RSFA just spent over $7 million for the golf course renovation and received another approved $3 million on the driving range and short game areas. That’s more than $10 million for the Golf Club to upgrade their course. The $10 million is pushing 100% more than the original budget. Lest we forget, the Golf Club still owes $1.54 million to the bank and $450k to the Association for the Restaurant and Clubhouse Renovation from 2007, which was due to be paid off, in full, a decade ago (see loan information in table above).
You did not get a vote when in 2019 the Golf Club took away the non-golfers’ decades-old traditional ability to buy a golf “six-pack,” granting six rounds of golf a year for the occasional golfer. I was told years ago that this was a requirement by law to allow members access since the Golf Club is on Association land. Breaking the law? Too bad, you didn’t get a vote on that either.
You did not get a vote when the RSFA owned the land under the Player’s Clubhouse building, but it was designated off limits to all non-golfing members, and even women golfers were excluded too.
What can you do? Show up at Association Board meetings. Start a petition (150 signatures to get finances over $400,000 put to a community vote). Make calls and send emails to Board Members and HOA Manager Christy Whalen at memberinput@rsfassociation.org demanding reforms, a vote, and some restraint with other people’s money.
Ms. Slosar is a long-time Ranch resident and a former RSFA Vice President and Board Member.