[dillywho]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Do you want the employees to get a "living wage" or maybe a pay raise this year? Do you want the courses to be maintained properly? Do you really think that prices will never go up just because you bought here or you realtor "said so"?

The championship courses are a business, and businesses have to make money or they go out of business. It never ceases to amaze me that people move here to The Villages and then all of a sudden forget how the world works and think they should be immune to the realities of economics.

Here's another shocker that most people don't realize. When we get lot of rains and the retention ponds start to bulge with glut of water, were does it go? To the golf courses, both the executive and championship courses, yes this is an inconvenience when the courses have to shut down to accommodate this major function they were designed to carry out, and the whining kicks in on day one.

Closing down an executive course to dump water has only the inconvenience of residents who want to play there, fortunately this normally happens during the slow season and there are plenty of other open tee times available at other course to accommodate you. Remember this courses still have to be staffed and maintained even if no one is play them during the water dumping.

Closing down a championship course to dump the rain water is much more impactful. Yes, residents are inconvenienced by this and have to find alternate course to play, again during the slow season the makes plenty of tee times available. For the business the impact is much more profound, water dumping costs them revenue. No one playing means no cash coming in. If the dumping is happening on more that 9 holes (of a 27 course) the entire course is basically shut down. Well, the revenue side is shutdown, the cost side doesn't shutdown. The greens keepers are still working and taking care of the course. The restaurants and the pro shops stay open but business is dead slow, and the employees still get paid. The cost to the business owner is huge, as is the benefits to the residents by having hundreds of acres to dump the water. How do they recover from this? They don't. They receive no remediation or compensation for their loss while the courses are closed. They have to absorb the cost and expense. Should we do a special assessment to the residents for water dumping when they have to close to accommodate and pay them for their lost revenue? The championship courses would be justified in refusing to close for water dumping and put the burden fully on the executive courses. Of course then the whiners would be screaming "greedy developer" as always, never seeing the other side of the coin.

A 2 or 3 dollar increase in green fees, get over it. Your social security went up more than that, or maybe you would forgo the SS increase and keep the greens fees the same? But then of course the whining would begin there with "I'm a poor retiree living on social security...".

Remember, the world still turns, businesses still have to operate and make a profit, and just because you're retired doesn't mean any of this will stop.

You are so spot on! Thank you for taking the time to explain how economics and businesses work. Unfortunately, some still will not get it simply because they don't want to get it. Others can't because they have only been consumers and not involved in any part of operating a business.

Again, thank you. Hopefully, your post will put a lot of the angst to rest.