The Brookings City Council on Monday rejected a request by Salmon Run golf course officials to delay lease payments for two years.

However, in a rare split vote, the council reduced the annual lease amount from $30,000 required in the contract to $15,000. Payments  will begin in February.

 The council stipulated that the lease money be used to hire a consulting firm to review Salmon Run’s financial situation, make recommendations about lease agreement restructuring, and determine ways the course can become financially sustainable.

Mayor Larry Anderson and council members Dave Gordon and Brent Hodges voted in favor of the plan. Council members Ron Hedenskog and Jake Pieper voted against. 

Salmon Run, built on land owned by the city about 3.5 miles up the South Bank Chetco River Road, lost an average of $41,000 annually from 2006 to 2010, according to its 2012 business plan.

Lease payments were to begin in 2010, but the city granted a two-year extension due to Salmon Run’s financial problems.

During Monday’s meeting, golf course General Manager Ed Murdock told the council that even the reduced lease amount of $15,000 was too expensive.

“The golf course does not have the ability to pay this amount,” he said.

But Anderson said the existing contract must be honored.

“The council can’t just say ‘pay us when you can,’” he said.

Pieper said the city is a landlord and needs to be paid. He added that the golf course employees continue to be paid, the lights stay on, “but the lease payment is put at the bottom” of Salmon Run’s priorities.

“It’s a private business,” said Gordon. “We seem to be having to bail this thing out all the time.”

Ten-year Salmon Run member Gerry Ledoux spoke Monday, telling the council that many organizations hold fundraising tournaments at the course. Those include some Brookings-Harbor High School athletic teams, the Brookings Police Department K-9 program, Oasis House and other entities, he said.

Salmon Run brings in visitors who spend money at local restaurants, motels and gas stations, Ledoux added. He chose to live in Brookings because of the golf course, Ledoux said, and “it would be a terrible community without Salmon Run.”

Anderson acknowledged the financial benefits that Salmon Run provides to the community, but said council members must be accountable to Brookings citizens who elected them.

He noted that Ledoux said the fundraising tournaments contribute from $14,000 to $30,000 to local groups each year.

“There seem to be rounded numbers thrown out,” Anderson said. “I am looking for more definite information as we move forward.”

Gordon said it has taken Salmon Run 10 years to come up with a marketing plan and he’s not satisfied with the result.

“It doesn’t tell me you’re convinced you can make money,” Gordon said.

 Hedenskog said Salmon Run officials haven’t provided the city with all of its financial documents.

Meanwhile, Hodges said the city needs a “road map” for how Salmon Run will make money. But he added, “Doing away with the golf course won’t do anybody any good.”

Before the council voted to cut the annual lease amount in half, Pieper made a motion to deny the lease extension request and leave the amount at $30,000 with payments starting  in February.

He and Hedenskog voted for that idea, but the motion died when Anderson, Hodges and Gordon voted against it.