Harrison votes to bond $15.65M for Willow Ridge purchase

The village of Harrison’s Board of Trustees has approved issuing $15.65 million in bonds to pay for the acquisition of the Willow Ridge Country Club and some additional expenses.

The bond resolution authorizes “acquisition and improvement of Willow Ridge Country Club located at 123 North Street for municipal recreational use in and for the village of Harrison, Westchester County, New York, subject to permissive referendum.”

After the vote to approve, Mayor Ron Belmont said, “The board came to agreement on $15.65 million. The purchase price is $13.65 million and we put a little cushion in there for capital expenses, so on and so forth. It was a consensus of the board to borrow this amount of money.”

The board also unanimously approved a resolution submitted by Trustee Lauren Leader that requires for the next five years any additional expenditures or cost overruns for the funding of Willow Ridge be paid for out of the town’s reserve fund and not through an increase in taxes for residents.

A pro forma budget for operating the club as the Country Club of Harrison under municipal ownership showed 2022 revenues of $6,670,628 with a gross operating profit of $909,163 and a net income of $689,464, or 10% of total revenue.

The pro forma budget was prepared for Harrison by Troon Golf, which currently manages more than 630 public and private golf clubs around the world. A Harrison committee that studied various aspects of a possible Willow Ridge purchase recommended that Troon be hired to be the operator and manager for the municipality.

The committee also recommended that a local development corporation be formed to take over control of the golf club after it has been acquired. By using an LDC, the village would issue bond anticipation notes for financing the purchase and then, after acquisition, the LDC would take over and issue its own bonds to relieve the municipality of its obligations.