The Lansing City Council failed to override Mayor Virg Bernero's golf course veto Wednesday night.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope tells us that five city council members were at the meeting. Four of them voted to override the veto and one voted not to. An override requires the votes of six of the eight council members.
Following the Lansing City Council’s failure tonight to override his budget veto concerning management of the city’s Groesbeck Golf Course, Mayor Virg Bernero said his plan to improve operations and reduce the taxpayer subsidy for the golf course will now move forward.
“This is a common sense approach to reducing the financial losses that Lansing taxpayers are required to subsidize every year to keep Groesbeck Golf Course operating,” Mayor Bernero said. “Taxpayers paid an estimated $24 for every round of golf played at Groesbeck last year, which added up to more than $600,000. That means more than one out of every four Parks Millage dollars are spent on underwriting the financial losses at a single park. We are blessed with 114 parks and four community centers in Lansing, and they deserve a fair share of the tax dollars dedicated to their maintenance and improvement.”
“I understand that change is hard for some people, but the status quo is no longer an option,” Bernero concluded. “Both the Parks Board and the Council signed off on the Master Plan and I am moving forward to implement it in the best interest of the taxpayers of Lansing.”
