Caton Claims Troon Hilton Numbers Out Of Reach
Oro Valley Councilman Mike Zinkin has been pushing for transparency and real numbers related to the purchase of the Hilton El Conquistador golf courses for months now. On Monday, in an email exchange between Zinkin and Town Manager, Greg Caton, admitted that thanks to the lack of transparency, budget projections were nearly created from whole cloth.
According to Caton the numbers upon which the Town might base projections are “only distributed to us for month over month comparison purposes.” Those figures, however, are essential to developing a budget, according to Zinkin.
Read more: Caton Claims Troon Hilton Numbers Out Of Reach
El Conquistador Golf Acquisition Is Oro Valley’s Money Pit
He said it was an incredible deal, and so far Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath is right. Incredible would be the operative word to describe the purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club and Golf Course by the Town of Oro Valley.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, incredible is defined as:
Full Definition of INCREDIBLE
1. too extraordinary and improbable to be believed (making incredible claims)
2. amazing, extraordinary (incredible skill) (an incredible appetite) (met an incredible woman)
A review of the numbers shows that the promised costs for – and benefits to – residents were improbable. In fact, it was the seller, Humberto Lopez and HSL Properties, not the buyer, the Oro Valley taxpayers, who made an amazing deal.
Read more: El Conquistador Golf Acquisition Is Oro Valley’s Money Pit
Oro Valley Golf Course Purchase Not Paying Off
At last week’s meeting of the Oro Valley Town Council, Town Manager Greg Caton scrambled to explain why the recent purchase of golf courses is not as reckless as it appears to be on paper. Throwing out hundreds of numbers and leaving huge gaps in the information needed to assess the accuracy of his projections, residents and fellow council members say Caton appeared to have misled the public.
According to Town Councilmember Mike Zinkin, the numbers are in for September and they are grim. Zinkin notes that the forecasted rounds of golf for September were 4,351 but the actual rounds played was 3,762. The Town missed its goal by a whopping 589 rounds. The average revenue per round was forecasted to be $40.17 while the actual revenue per round was $31.89, missing the projected figure by $8.28.
Zinkin says the bottom line is that the forecasted revenue for September was 4351 x $40.17, or $174,779.67. However, the actual revenue per round for September was 3762 x $31.89 or $119,970.18.
In other words, the Town lost $54,809.49 from what it was forecasted to make.
Read more: Oro Valley Golf Course Purchase Not Paying Off
Report Shows Oro Valley El Conquistador Purchase “Was A Disaster”
Oro Valley Councilmember Mike Zinkin at the September 2 regular Town Council meeting, requested to see the monthly revenues and expenses from the food and beverage operations managed by Troon at the Oro Valley Community and Recreation Center. That report, issued on Monday, is more evidence that the purchase of the El Conquistador Country was a “disaster,” according to Zinkin.
The report contains the consolidated July financials for the Community Center & Golf Fund. The El Conquistador Country, which is now the Oro Valley Community and Recreation Center, was purchased by the Town in a quick and secretive deal that spurred a recall effort of the Town’s Mayor Satish Hiremath, Vice-Mayr Lou Waters, and Councilmembers Joe Horant and Mary Snider.
The report reads:
Read more: Report Shows Oro Valley El Conquistador Purchase “Was A Disaster”
Oro Valley Mayoral Candidate Winfield Drops Out
After having unwittingly altered election law in Arizona, Oro Valley mayoral candidate Joe Winfield announced on Saturday that he has removed himself from the race. Winfield apologized for poor judgment to the large crowd attending a candidate forum in Sun City.
In his opening comments, Winfield acknowledged that many people viewed him as a “spoiler, a fake, and other things,” and that many residents were concerned with his last minute entry into the race. Winfield ran out of time before completing his statement.
In response to the first question asked of the candidates, Winfield stated, “In deference to Mr. Straney, I’m dropping out of the race. I’m not going to be a candidate. I know my name will be on the ballot and I’m sorry for that.”
Read more: Oro Valley Mayoral Candidate Winfield Drops Out
Judge Rules In Oro Valley Candidates Winfield, Burke Challenge
Pima County Superior Court Judge Gus Aragon has issued a ruling in the lawsuit brought by Oro Valley resident Don Bristow against recall election candidates Joseph Winfield and Doug Burke. Bristow claimed that Winfield and Burke submitted invalid nomination petitions.
The judge found that while the candidates did submit invalid petitions, new ballots could not be issued to voters because ballots had already been cast.
The following is a timeline of events:
On September 1, 2015, plaintiff Bristow receives the nominating petitions for candidate Winfield.
September 4, 2015, is the last day nominating petitions can be filed.
Winfield and Burke submitted a sufficient number of signatures however as noted in the Judge’s final ruling:
Bower does not recall ever rejecting a recall candidates nominating petition. She saw no reason to reject any of the defendant candidates’ petitions in this case after reviewing the issue with her office’s election attorney. She consulted with the attorney because she did have questions about some of the submitted petitions.
Read more: Judge Rules In Oro Valley Candidates Winfield, Burke Challenge
The Town Of Oro Valley Is Still In The Golf Business
Regardless of what Satish Hiremath, Joe Hornat, Mary Snider and Lou Waters want you to think, the Town does still own three golf courses. Based on their rhetoric one would assume that the golf courses magically disappeared and we were blessed with a turn-key community center. The truth is that the El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Club purchased by the Town of Oro Valley is losing more money than projected and with that continued trend, those losses will far exceed the revenue from the 25% sales tax increase implemented by the Town in March 2015. A visit to the so-called community center will prove that it is far from turn-key.
Specific to the golf operations, in the first month (July), Troon Management reported a 40% revenue shortfall. The $98,781 total revenue collected was $65,825 less than the budgeted $165,607. Keep in mind that the $65,825 shortfall is on top of the $259,252 they planned to lose. Therefore, the net effect is that over $325,000 was lost in just the first month of operations.
At the September 2nd Council meeting, the news was not any prettier for August. Troon projected revenues of $165,833 and only collected $99,478 with a shortfall of $66,255. Like July, the total losses were approximately $325,000. I recognize that golf play is lower during the hot summer months, but Troon’s projections reflect that. There is no reason to believe that comparable shortfalls will not continue throughout 2015-16 and the Town cannot afford to sustain the losses.
Read more: The Town Of Oro Valley Is Still In The Golf Business
Residents appeal Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum decision
The residents of Oro valley filed an appeal this afternoon with the Arizona Court of Appeals after a Superior Court judge ruled against their effort to have the purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club put to the voters.
This morning, Superior Court Judge Gus Aragon ruled that the Oro Valley Town Clerk was correction when she disqualified the petitions with over 3000 signatures due to a minor clerical error on the petition forms.
Residents appeal Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum decision
Judge rules on Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum
This morning Pima County Superior Court Judge Gus Aragon ruled in favor of the Town of Oro Valley in the matter of a request for an “Order to Show Cause” by residents, who sought to put the purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club before the voters.
The judge heard the case on Tuesday.
The plaintiffs, Debra Arrett, and Shirley Lamonna filed for Statutory Special Action, through their attorney Bill Risner. The defendant Julie K Bower, Oro Valley Town Clerk, rejected over 3000 signatures due to a small clerical error.
In his ruling, the judge found that the plaintiffs failed to put a serial number generated by the Town in the bottom corner of each petition.
Read more: Judge rules on Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum
Oro Valley Council To Face Recall
Waters, Snider, and Hornat must resign or face recall election in November
Today organizers of the recall effort against Oro Valley Vice-Mayor Lou Waters, and Town Council members Mary Snider and Joe Hornat were informed that their recall petitions were approved by the Pima County Recorder. The group was notified in an email from Pamela Franklin with Pima County this afternoon.
The leader of OVCOG (Oro Valley Citizens for Open Government,) Ryan Hartung was notified that while the group only needed 2,200 signatures, the County validated over 2,800 signatures on the petitions.
Recall petitions are also being circulated against Mayor Satish Hiremath. The group expects those petitions to be turned in for review later this month.
Read more: Oro Valley Council To Face Recall
Oro Valley Considers Debt For El Conquistador Purchase
AZ Supreme Court Rules On Oro Valley Referendum
Oro Valley closes on El Conquistador CC
Oro Valley Town Manager accused of misrepresenting El Conquistador purchase
Oro Valley recall petitions filed
Oro Valley signs HSL agreement
Judge rules on Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum
Residents appeal Oro Valley El Conquistador purchase referendum decision