COROWA Golf Club has been denied a request for more than $20,000 in overdue rates to be wiped by the council.
The financially-embattled club made the approach recently, but the NSW Local Government Act prevents the council allowing it.
Twelve months ago, the club revealed the depth of its financial crisis and undertook a successful fund-raising campaign to repay more than $200,000 in debts.
Club operations manager Adrian Plazina and consultant Ian Carrington made a presentation to the council yesterday with a revelation the situation was still grim.
“We are still on struggle street,” Mr Carrington said.
“We’ve still got infrastructure issues that have been run down over years.
“And we’ve got a few cost blowouts in our repair and infrastructure program.
“As everyone knows we’ve got increased utility charges.
“Power alone is costing more than $20,000 a month.”
But, the club is digging in for the fight to save the highly regarded 27-hole course.
A new board of management was elected in November, a review of service contracts has been undertaken, staff cuts have been made and new restaurant managers began last month.
But the request for rate relief fell on deaf ears.
The only concession made was the council would work with club management for appropriate arrangements to make repayments over time.
The council has other large golf courses at Mulwala and Howlong.
Earlier in the meeting, Murray Regional Tourism chief executive Mark Harris highlighted the importance of golf as a visitor drawcard.
Mr Plazina said the club needed some assistance from the council.