Oak Brook voters seem to have told village officials in overwhelming fashion Tuesday Nov. 8 that they don’t want the village to more than $2.8 million for capital improvements over the next 10 years to continue operating the Sports Core banquet facility.
Unofficial results in an advisory referendum showed about 68% of the vote total against continued funding of the banquet facility.
The referendum question specifically asked voters if they believe the village should invest $2,872,980 for capital improvements over the next 10 years to continue operating the Sports Core banquet facility, even though records reflect that the banquet facility is used predominantly by nonresidents.
“The residents have spoken on the banquet facility,” Village President Gopal Lalmalani said the morning after the referendum was on the election ballot. “We will now hit the pause button on supporting this perennial money-loser.”
Lalmalani said the Village Board will now look at “fresh, alternative ideas” for the facility.
“We need to stop the bleeding and be more business savvy,” he said. “The intent is not to tear the banquet facility down, but to improve it.”
The village owns and manages the Oak Brook Sports Core, which includes golf, soccer, swimming pool, tennis, banquets and food service operations. Each of the those operations functions financially at an average of break-even or cash flow positive, with the exception of the banquet operation, Village Manager Greg Summers said. He said the banquet operation operates at an average annual operating loss of approximately $202,000.
The banquet facility of the Sports Core over the last five years has lost $282,091, $171,501, $159,369, $300,796 and $97,588, respectively, according to Summers.
He said the capital improvements expenditure would average just over $287,000 a year for the 10 years.
A motion to put the advisory referendum on the ballot was approved by the Village Board in August. A recommendation to hold an advisory referendum came from village staff, and the staff’s recommendation came after the village’s Sports Core Advisory Committee met in July to review information and make a recommendation to the Village Board on future food service operations for the banquet operation, Golf Café, and Poolside Café.
The Sports Core Advisory Committee focused on the fact that the Golf Café has been profitable for each of the last five years, and the Poolside Café has been close to cost-neutral each year, even with challenges related to delayed pool openings and other challenges.
A look at the steady losses of the banquet operation resulted in a discussion about how to handle the loss.
It was the committee’s suggestion to consider placing the question on the ballot so that Oak Brook voters could weigh in. The
The question of what to do with the banquet facility, moving forward, likely will go back to the Sports Core Advisory Committee for discussion and recommendation, before the Village Board makes a final decision.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
