Golf is not as popular as it once was, and in late 2007, in the town of Attleboro, Massachusetts, just a stone's-throw from Providence, Rhode Island, Highland Country Club filed for bankruptcy. The nine-hole, 117-year-old country club had debts of about $1.77 million and assets, principally real estate, assessed by the city at about $1.9 million. The property, 93 acres of rolling well-kept lawn, dotted with trees, putting greens, and a few ponds, is near schools, downtown, and commuter rail. In addition, the city was planning a new high school nearby. The sale would include a banquet facility and the clubhouse.

The land is zoned as single-family residential with a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet. At 93 acres, which is 4,051,080 square feet, and allowing for a reduction of 20 percent for unusable land and 15 percent for roads and other public facilities, there would be 2,633,202 square feet available for development. That leaves enough land for 131 homes.

City officials estimated that if the new homes were valued at $400,000, they would produce about $5,800 in taxes per year while per-pupil expenditures in Attleboro come in at about $13,000, according to 2016 data on the Department of Education website.

Some community members thought the city should buy the property and leave it as open space for recreational use. City officials estimated that option would reduce city taxes by about $40,000, and that there would be additional maintenance costs, but those could be offset by leasing the banquet facility and garnering restaurant taxes.

City officials noted that even if the course could be purchased at a fire sale price, there are other commitments, such as the proposed construction of the new high school at an expected cost to the city of at least $126 million paid for by increased property taxes.

People with homes around and in the vicinity of the course wanted the property to continue on as a golf course.

Ultimately, the city purchased the property for over $3 million, taking out a loan to pay for it, and allowed it to return to a more natural state as Highland Park.

However, the old clubhouse turned out to be a bigger drain on the budget than expected. Plans to lease the building to a restaurant/caterer failed to gain traction, and an option to convert it into a facility for the citys Council on Aging would cost millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, the city is considering plans to create an outdoor performance venue in Highland Park and is seeking grant money to build a performing arts venue or pavilion for use by the school department, civic organizations, and local businesses to host performing arts events.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you think the city made a good choice in purchasing the golf course? Why or why not? What were the other options, and why do you think they did not work out?

2. What kind of non-monetary considerations do you think the city took into account in purchasing the property? What kind of process do you think city staff went through in coming to the decision to buy the property?

3. If you were a city budget analyst, what kinds of information would you want to gather to help the city council and city manager approach this decision? What kind of follow-up would you do, and why?