Does the decision to close the Country Club Vincentia (the VGC) make good business sense? Or are the members and the community just being 'punished' for exercising their democratic rights?
I wonder if the Country Club has considered the costs versus benefits of keeping the Vincentia Club and golf course closed over this busy holiday period?
Using the Country Club quarterly figures from last year October to March, I have made some assumptions that a number of costs will continue to be incurred whether the club is open or not. This includes items such as insurance, depreciation, rates and taxes and administration costs attributed across to Vincentia. The cost of expenses that are ongoing for the period last year were $147,000 and this didn’t include any costs for security or green staff. Green staff costs attributed to Vincentia golf for the period were $201,221. It’s too hard to guess the costs of security patrols so I left that out. $348,000 and counting....
Photo by David Broadhurst
Other potential costs include land tax which becomes payable when the land is not used for club purposes for 6 months. This means that the CC could be liable for land tax from 31 Dec 2024 on the Vincentia land.
So, the total cost to the Country Club could be in the order of $400,000. Well, how much did the Vincentia lose last year according to the books? $118,000 was the loss reported for the 6 months. Based on doing nothing differently than last year, the Country Club would be about $280,000 better off having the club opened!
Significantly the loss reported for Vincentia is disputed by FoVGC as it contains attributed costs from St Georges Basin rather than the actual operating costs.
FoVGC are convinced that the community would rally to support a re-opened Club and course. There have been a lot of suggestions by members of this group for ways to improve the trading results at Vincentia.
A small amount of imagination and a bit of goodwill could see Vincentia generating a modest profit. A focussed effort would see Vincentia becoming a very profitable business unit.
If only…
Contributed by Wayne Prior
FoVGC Communications Sub-Committee