By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

HOWARD – Though the Village Green Golf Course isn’t on track for its best financial year ever, Director of Administrative Services Chris Haltom informed the village board Monday, Sept. 23, about the course’s operations still going well.

“I expect it to probably end the year less than those other years that were really high years, primarily because of how the restaurant is operating compared to what it did back then,” Haltom said. “We did a lot more on Fridays on revenue back in the early 2000s, but I think we’re still going to have a very good year. It will be the best year we’ve had in over a decade.”

The Village of Howard has owned Village Green for more than 20 years.

Through Aug. 31, the course reported operating income at $125,306, compared to $58,250 at that time in 2018 and much less income from 2014-17.

“The golf course did have several years with better results ranging from $134,000 in 2006 to $145,000 in 2003, but certainly 2019 is shaping up to be one of the best years as well,” Haltom said.

The course’s total revenue for the first eight months of 2019 came to $428,241 with $302,935 in total expenses.

Though total revenue is down more than $4,000 from the previous year, the course’s total expenses are also down almost $72,000.

Howard Commons

Haltom also reported good financial news for the Howard Commons apartment complex.

“If you look at just the month of August, we made about $57,000,” he said. “If we have another month like that, we’ll be able to break even.”

Year-to-date income through August was listed as a loss of $61,133.

If occupancy rates at Howard Commons remain more than 90 percent, Haltom said the apartment complex will be performing well financially.

Located between the YMCA and Meadowbrook Park, the Howard Commons project was designed as three apartment buildings with 84 units in Building A, 39 units in Building B and 45 units in Building C.

Buildings A and B opened for occupancy late last year, while Building C is now under construction and scheduled to open next April.

Alliance Management has an agreement with the village to manage and market Howard Commons.

Village Administrator Paul Evert said the Howard Commons initially attracted a lot of retired people from Howard who wanted to move out of their homes.

Evert said he believes Howard Commons has been successful because of having better management than other luxury apartments in the Green Bay area.

“Alliance, anyway, secret-shops the competition…,” he said. “We had one person come and move into our place that said, ‘Yeah, I went to another place, and I texted them, said I was running late. When I got there at 5 o’clock, they said, sorry we’re closed.’ Now why would you do that to a potential tenant?”