ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – A southeast New Mexico town is taking over the golf course in hopes of increasing the revenue it generates. This is not the first time the city has done that. The city of Roswell is now taking over the management at the Nancy Lopez Golf Course at Spring River. The city had had a 12-year partnership with an outside company that maintained the pro shop, the concessions and other services at the golf course.

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“What we have done is contracted out the pro shop, the service of the golf course pro and the management of the pro shop,” said Joe Neeb, Roswell city manager.

Roswell officials wanted to bring the course under its full control as it did with the zoo and the museum in hopes of attracting new visitors to the city.

“One of the biggest goals that we want to partner very closely with the golf course at NMMI and the country club as welltoo. We actually believe that we are very well situated in Roswell to have anybody come out and join us in Roswell and enjoy a whole weekend of golf, no matter which course they go and visit,” Neeb said.

The city says they hope the cost of maintaining the course will not add to revenue expense. The maintenance of the grounds at the golf course was $700,000 but that did not include paying the company that managed the pro shop.

They say the final price tag for everything was $1.4 million and that they hope to keep it the same or under. The city says the golf course will be self-sufficient.

“We have a 70-30 cost recovery which means that the city will support it by 30 percent and we want the golf course the rates, any of the revenue that can be generated from the golf course to cover about 70 percent of that expense,” said Neeb.

One other project that the city wants to complete is redoing the gold cart tracks around the course and will be asking the state for $500,000 in their Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan. The city says right now, they are not going to increase fees to play the course but it could be revisited in the future.