Round Rock city officials are evaluating the future of the Forest Creek Golf Club, as the contract the city has in place with the operator expires in April.

The city owns the club and contracts with OnCourse Strategies to run it.

After the contract expires the city will have the option to renew with changes, manage the club in-house through the Parks Department or sell the club to a private owner, said Cheryl Delaney, then finance director for the City of Round Rock at a City Council meeting Oct. 7.

OnCourse President Mike Ussery said he would like to renew the contract with the city under terms that would restructure the debt payments for the course.

Ussery said the cash flows go toward debt service and operating costs. He said to make major capital improvements the money must come from elsewhere. Ussery said the course started in the early '90s with about $6.5 million in debt and is now at about $3.5 million.

"It's hard for the golf course to generate enough cash flow to pay that level of bond debt," he said.

Round Rock Communications Director Will Hampton said the way the contract was written is for the club to be financially self sufficient.

"One of the things that was important to the city when we built it was we wanted the course to pay for itself," Hampton said. "We didn't want the city or the taxpayers to essentially subsidize it."

An audit of the golf course will go before City Council in December.

"I would be interested to know what other municipalities have done, what's worked and what's not," Councilwoman Kris Whitfield said.

Mayor Alan McGraw said City Council will not make any decisions until after they see the audit.

"It's going to stay a golf course," he said. "It's still a quality golf course, still a great amenity for the city. "

McGraw said he would not like to sell the course at this time because the city could lose money on the prospect.

Councilman Craig Morgan said he would like to send out a request for quotation, or RFQ, to elicit responses from private parties on how to operate the course.

"There would have to be pretty strict language that it would continue to be a golf course," Morgan said. "What the RFQ would do is get some creative ideas on how to partner with the city."

Morgan said at one point it was considered a top golf course in the county.

"For me there's some concerns of it aging and not getting the necessary capital improvements a golf course needs over time," he said.

Morgan said he would like to see the operator have the opportunity to make more money off the course as well.

Hampton said the city built the golf course in 1990 after the savings and loan crises eliminated a private developer's funding for a golf course. He said after the property went into foreclosure a private party bought the land and donated it to the city on the terms that Round Rock would build a golf course there.

Hampton said the city's goal at the time was to create high-end development around the course.

"Now it's completely built out, and it's one of the nicest neighborhoods in Round Rock," he said. "In that sense the strategic initiative has been achieved."

Keller Williams Realtor Kiersty Lombar said property values in the Forest Creek neighborhood continue to increase.

"Can I say that has to do with the golf course or not? I think not," Lombar said. "It's difficult for us to split the data. If we were in a down market we would probably be having a different discussion."