Norwich — The City Council Monday approved a $410,000 bond to replace aging mowers, vehicles and a tractor for the Norwich Golf Course, which will reimburse the city for the cost through its operational revenue.

The council voted unanimously Monday to approve the bond after hearing from only one speaker — a Golf Course Authority member — during a public hearing prior to the vote.

The plan, endorsed by the Golf Course Authority at its June 17 meeting, calls for bonding $410,000 to purchase five specialty mowers, a sand rake, sprayer, two heavy duty work vehicles and a tractor.

In a memo to the council on the bond, city Comptroller Josh Pothier said the Golf Course Authority has been maintaining the city-owned golf course with “some very old equipment,” some of which are 20 to 30 years old, with inefficient work and repair costs escalating.

Finances of the bond will not be paid by city taxpayers. Under the plan, the city will take out the bonds and the Golf Course Authority will agree to reimburse the city for the costs. The authority will order the equipment, to be paid for through a golf course account in the city’s operating budget. Golf course revenue will reimburse the city capital fund for the cost of the equipment and also will reimburse the city’s general fund for the legal costs and fees to obtain the bonds.

Golf Course Authority member Robert Malouf said the move will allow the authority to purchase 11 pieces of equipment with fixed costs over a seven-year period, paying about $63,000 per year to the city for the bond.

Alderwoman Stacy Gould said she supported the bond, because the city must maintain the city-owned asset, and it will not be funded through taxpayer money. She said much of the equipment will last well beyond the seven-year life of the bond.

Alderman Derell Wilson said he fielded a lot of questions from the public about the need for the bond and asked Pothier to explain the process.

Pothier told the council bonding in general is used to pay to purchase equipment expected to last long term.

In his written memo, Pothier wrote that this method has been used in the past for golf course purchases, including $50,000 to replace a tractor with turf wheels in the 2019-20 fiscal year and a plan to purchase a $50,000 reel grinding machine to sharpen mower blades this year.

Before this year, the golf course’s revenues had declined in recent years, ending with a $37,000 deficit at the end of fiscal year 2018-19, Pothier wrote. But Pothier wrote the authority has “a long track record” of managing its finances well. He wrote the deficit should be eliminated by next June, especially now that a new $800,000 water retention pond has been completed to save an estimated $100,000 per year in water costs.

A financial report given at the June 17 Golf Course Authority meeting said revenues for May alone came in $40,067 over budgeted projections and up by $28,136 over May 2019 revenues.

c.bessette@theday.com