Cliff Swan, chief financial officer for Sun City West Recreation Centers, presented the golf division’s fiscal year 2024–25 results to the Golf Committee on Sept. 11.

Swan said revenue finished about $500,000 below budget on a $12.5 million budget primarily because rounds played trailed projections by 5,794 rounds, and Echo Mesa experienced an early closure. “We had some weather events. We also had the early closure of Echo Mesa, and we just weren't able to catch up at the end of the year,” Swan said.

Despite lower revenue, Swan reported expense savings totaling about $639,000, mainly driven by labor savings from unfilled positions: “Largest component of that is $471,000 in wages, taxes and benefits,” he told the committee, and he said much of the labor savings was offset by $220,000 in increased contracted services to perform tasks the department could not staff in-house.

Swan said fee increases and changes in card and greens-fee mixes produced $263,000 more revenue than a prior-year comparison, even though rounds were lower than the prior year. The division’s typical seasonality was illustrated in weekly and monthly revenue charts; Swan emphasized that early-season capital and overseeding costs normally produce cash outflows early in the fiscal year.

Overall, Swan said the golf division subsidized about $1.0 million to the association in the year under review and that the operating cash outflow was about $126,000 worse than the prior year.

Committee members pressed for more detail on month-to-month variations; Swan and staff explained overseeding and peak-season labor demand are concentrated in fall months and that open seats during the busiest months contributed to lower labor expenses but required more contracted services.

There was no formal vote; the CFO’s presentation closed with the committee filing the financial report for future budget discussions.