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WAYNE COUNTY—Two publicly owned and run golf courses in Wayne County are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and may be sold to private companies or their maintenance contracted out to private firms. Since 1998, the courses, Warren Valley in Dearborn Heights and Inkster Valley in Inkster, have lost a combined $5 million.
The county parks department is studying ways to curb losses at the courses and plans to bring in golf management experts to make recommendations after assessing the situation over the next three or four months. In the meantime, the strategy is to generate more revenue by improving services and bringing in more corporate events.
Privatization is on the table due to the county’s $46 million budget deficit. The Wayne County courses, if they went private, would be following in the footsteps of four of Detroit’s six courses, which went private 13 years ago, and Livonia’s three courses, which did so two years ago.
