WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Where do the Watertown City Council candidates stand on the future of the Thompson Park Golf Course?
Year 3 of running the golf course just wrapped up, and the numbers aren’t in.
In year one, it lost close to $300,000. Year 2, a loss of $260,000.
The 4 Watertown City Council candidates are waiting to see how the course did. If it continues to lose money, the candidates feel there’ll be a time to cut the city’s losses.
“If it does not break even by the end of next season, I would vote to close it,” said Anthony Velazquez.
“I think you’ve got to give them 3-4 years, 5 years, and at that point, if they’re not pretty darn close to negative, then I think we’ve got to look at some serious alternative – I don’t want to close it next year,” said Pete Monaco.
“I think we need to assess it, but I think we need to give it a few more years to determine that,” said Doug Osborne.
“I lean towards if we’re going to, if it’s close to breaking even, we commit to two to three years of trying to run it,” said Shane Garrabrant.
If the city doesn’t run it, candidates offered up ideas like leasing the golf business to someone else, or other ways to get it off city books.
“You pursue every avenue. I think, see if we can get a lease. See if we can sell it off,” said Garrabrant.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to sell it. Maybe lease it out? I oughta believe we’re probably not going to get any huge money without leasing it out,” said Monaco.
“The land value up there is extremely high. I personally would have been in favor of putting townhouses up there,” said Velazquez.
“I think we should look into potentially leasing it. If there’s an interested party in leasing it, then we can shed those reoccurring operational costs that we are currently undertaking now,” said Osborne.
Early voting is underway, with Election Day on November 4.
Copyright 2025 WWNY. All rights reserved.