Golf Course Purchase

Spring Lake Improvement District (SLID) was set up by the state in 1971 in order to monitor and control water drainage of a 3,400-acre WCI development on the north side of Lake Istokpoga that had mostly fallen into disrepair when the air base was shut down. The directors were and are elected by the people of the district. Up until 2005, when the hurricanes hit, there was no real reason to think the drainage was inadequate. The hurricanes and tropical storms have since proved differently.

Last year, South Florida Water Management came down on SLID with a huge hammer: "Get that drainage (and water quality) up to standard or else!" This also includes drainage for any future development of homes, offices and shopping centers. South Florida Water Management concurs with engineers who tell SLID they must spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million (including bond fees) to dredge canals, improve drainage and add 60 more acres of lakes, which means that all residents and lot owners face a tax increase of $168 per year to pay for the bond issue. If we choose not to pay the $168 annual increase, we must sell our home and move out of the district.

On Nov. 14, Mike Tellschow offered to sell two (basically self-supporting) golf courses to SLID for $3.4 million that included most of the canals that SLID needed to clean out and widen for drainage.

SLID sees a way to reduce the tax hike to possibly under $100 per year per owner. If they purchase the golf courses, they can save all sorts of money, for instance by being able to dredge from a fairway instead of a rented barge. They could shut one course down completely for months while dredging and putting in new lakes. The golf courses would be run as a separate enterprise fund within SLID's balance sheet.

SFWM has given SLID two years to plan and five years to complete the plan. If they work out a deal for the golf courses, they will be able to spread out the payment (and tax effect) over a longer period of time.

Jim Foote
Sebring