St. Paul golf course fees to increase in 2021

The Town of St. Paul is making minor increases to the membership costs at the St. Paul Golf Club. The 18-hole course was taken over by the town, and according to information presented to council on Nov. 23 has not seen any fee changes since 2018.

“We know the times are tough right now. At the same time we feel that we need to do some increases in certain areas,” said Harvey Smyl, the town’s Director of Parks and Recreation. Smyl also wanted council to approve shortening the sale period for discounted memberships.

Coun. Ron Boisvert asked if he had figures for how many of the discount memberships were sold in advance in previous years. Smyl didn’t have the exact figures available, but said the majority were sold in December.

According to Smyl, the proposal was already made to the rec board and their recommendation was to approve the increases.

“It’s a small change that we need to be moving forward with instead of having one big change in the next year or two. You can see it on the on the form how much we are behind in our charges compared to other golf courses in the area already,” said Smyl.

With the approved $50 increase, a single adult membership for the St. Paul Golf and Country Club is $820 compared to $940 in Lac la Biche, $1,307 in Bonnyville, or $1,330 in Grand Centre. A membership in Two Hills is $550.

Coun. Nathan Taylor said he was worried the town would see a net loss by increasing the fees and reducing the sale period, but voted in favour of the increase noting the rec board had recommended it and asked for Smyl to return with the data from the sale to show if there was a decline or not.

“Because weather doesn’t play a factor. It’s not people waiting until the spring to decide if it’s a late spring, early spring; early spring, let’s buy a membership because we have lots of golfing or late spring, no, we’re not going to do it,” said Taylor.

A motion by Coun. Brad Eamon to approve the recommended increases carried.

Memberships for single adults, couples, seniors, and senior couples will all increase by $50.

A single adult membership will be $820. A couple’s membership will be $1,370. A senior’s membership will be $765. A senior couple’s membership will be $1,315.

Corporate memberships are increasing by $190 to $2,500.

Storage and trackage for power carts will also be increasing by $25 to $265.

Early bird rates for the 2021 season will be available until the end of January, with a 15 per cent reduction to the price of memberships sold in December and 10 per cent off memberships sold in January.