The council on Thursday night voted to begin maintaining the city-owned Fairways of Canton golf course, which was closed on Monday by the operator.
City Manager Scott Wood said the city will maintain the course in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood "so that those greens and fairways don't deteriorate."
Rocky Roquemore, the developer, lessee and operator of the 200-acre, 18-hole course, closed it Monday indefinitely because of a lack of customers.
Wood said the city government has $40,000 in the current budget that was budgeted for costs related to the course. The cost to maintain the course would be a minimum of $15,000 a month.
Wood said city leaders are talking with other parties involved with the course, such as developers and bankers, to pitch in on the maintenance cost. The course was built through a public-private partnership, with the city government paying $3 million and the Canton Building Authority retaining ownership of it.
"The developers have an interest in that golf course, too," he said.
Councilman Jack Goodwin said the council needed to move quickly to save the golf course from falling further into disrepair. Problems already exist on several greens.
"It is too important," he said about making sure the course is maintained, noting about 200 people from the Laurel Canyon community packed Canton City Hall on Tuesday for an informational meeting to hear what the city is doing about the course. "It affects them, and it affects their property values. We need to show them that we are behind them."
Councilman Bob Rush, who lives in Laurel Canyon, said some of the greens have already started to fade.
"Time is of the essence," he said.
Wood said the city has received some interest from other golf course management companies about having some involvement with the Fairways.
"There are a number of companies at least asking about it," he said.
The council at Thursday's meeting also talked about the city millage rate, but took no action to set it.
The "revenue neutral rollback" rate would be 7.411 mills, up from the current 6.8 mills. While the rate would increase if the rollback was approved, the hike is the same as the average decrease in assessed values, so most homeowners' tax bills would be unchanged.
The owner of a $200,000 house with the standard $5,000 exemption paid a $510 tax bill last year and would see a $506 bill this year if their property value dropped by 8.4 percent - the average amount.
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