Minimum wage woes

Jacobsen’s Klasie Baard (left), talks shop with Jon Lobenstine at the 2015 Golfdom Summit in Orlando.

In the April issue of Golfdom, which should be in your mailbox soon, I talked with Jon Lobenstine, director of agronomy for Montgomery County (Maryland) Golf. He has 171 holes of golf over nine courses. Supervising that much golf, he’s a good person to talk to about current trends in the industry.

So I asked him what was top-of-mind that day. His response was quick.

“One of the biggest challenges we have in Montgomery County right now is the accelerated rate of minimum wage,” Jon told me. “Minimum wage in Montgomery County is accelerating faster than the state and federal minimum wage… next year we’ll be up to $11.50 an hour. While it’s good for the people making minimum wage, it’s a big challenge for businesses. From this year to next year it’s going to cost us $250,000 for lower-level employees, and that doesn’t even include all the other raises I’d give to the regular staff, the superintendents, everyone else…”

That $250K number caught my ear, so I asked him if I heard him right. A quarter million, just for the minimum wage staff?

“Yes, a $250,000 payroll increase just with minimum wage employees from last year and this year. We get up to about 425 employees in-season at our nine courses — a majority are on the golf operations side, food and beverage, starters, marshals,” Jon said. “The impact is real, our golf courses don’t get any funding from the county. So, unless we increase revenues, we have to find a way to cut expenses to fit all that in, and revenues have been pretty flat lately. We’re not projecting a big increase next year, we’re actually projecting a decrease.”

I asked him if the golfers of Montgomery County should be expecting to pay more for their rounds. He said that greens fees are already maxed out, with some of the courses hitting the $85 per round mark. He did say they’re aggressive about maximizing their tee sheet and getting as many golfers through as possible.

So what to do, then?

Jon just shrugged and reiterated what he said earlier: they have to cut costs.

So what is the rising cost of minimum wage doing to your operation? Comment below, or email me at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.

Photo: Golfdom