Below is my weekly Friday article:
It’s been almost six months since the city of Neosho was forced to make some drastic cuts in services and staffing in an attempt to stop the bleeding of our city’s finances. While those decisions weren’t without consequence, I’m happy to report that the city’s overall financial health is beginning to show small signs of improvement.
As we begin to look past the immediate needs of cash flow, the next battle on the horizon will be discussions over how we deal with the large amount of long-term debt owed by our city. Some of that debt continues to burden the city’s general fund. The one that concerns me the most is the roughly $3 million owed on our 27-hole municipal golf course.
The good news is golf course revenues are more than adequate to cover the day-to-day operating costs of the course. But when you add in the annual payments of the course’s debt, the overall budget picture starts to get ugly. Knowing that these payments will continue to increase over the next five years, it becomes critical that a plan be put in place, sooner than later, to deal with this ever-increasing burden.
Over the next few months, you’ll likely be hearing about more and more discussions of what that long-term plan may be. It’s not going to be an easy fix and it’s not something that can be done overnight, but I am confident we can work together to find a solution that keeps our course operating while minimizing the subsidies it receives from our general fund. Once a solution is in place, it will be yet another step forward in making our city stronger financially.
Stay safe and stay warm. Winter looks to be back in full force early next week.
Until next time, this meeting is adjourned!
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