Marcy Charette formed a new alliance of Concord taxpayers opposed to expansive municipal projects that benefit few and “threaten to throw many of us into poverty.”

They’ve felt their concerns have repeatedly been ignored by government leaders and created the Taxpayer’s Guild to speak loudly, with one voice.

“We have to pay taxes, everybody knows that. It’s a part of life. But sometimes it can get so burdensome that people can’t carry on,” she said. “My goal is to give people a forum so that they can become more involved in what affects them.”

The Guild’s first meeting was two weeks ago, and a top concern was the city’s plan to build a multi-million dollar new clubhouse at city-owned Beaver Meadow Golf Course.

While the golf course is run by the city, it’s not like most other facilities that serve the public at large, like a new police station, a new library, or upgraded pools, Charette said.

“We all go on roads, we all go to parks and need fire engines and police stations,” she said. “I’m not opposed to somebody having a clubhouse. I’m opposed to my tax money paying so somebody can be comfortable after they play a game of golf.”

City leaders who have endorsed a new clubhouse emphasize that something has to be done — the current one is in disrepair. The plumbing is failing, particularly in the women’s restroom, there is no space inside for cross-country skiers in the winter, and golf simulators are set up in the restaurant because there’s no place else to put them. Every plan on the table to address this relies on tax money. 

Rather than hold a specific vote on a new clubhouse, which faced fierce opposition at a public hearing in December 2023, Mayor Byron Champlin has decided to fold the decision into the city budget process.

A less costly option for renovation carries a more than $5 million price tag because a renovation, in order to bring the building to code, would have to take the clubhouse down to its frame, according to engineers for the project.

While the option for a totally new building carries a higher price tag, those who support it see it as an investment into a city asset that could draw increased revenue once it’s completed.

The way Charette sees it, if the golf course needs a new clubhouse, the golf course should pay for it.

“Beaver Meadow is a business,” she wrote in a lengthy report on the course she shared with city leaders. “Not a charity for people who golf.”

If the $8 million plan for a new clubhouse is approved, the 20-year bond would add about $30 onto the tax bill of a $350,000 home in the first year, according to financial estimates by the city. The renovation plan would add just under $20 to the bill of the same home. Under both, roughly 20% of the cost in the first year would be paid by the golf fund — the rest would come from tax bills and some private donations.

City Councilor Jennifer Kretovic, who lives near the course and represents its surrounding neighborhoods, has pitched the new clubhouse as a community center, a gathering place, in a part of Concord distant from other city facilities and village centers.

Penacook recently got a new library and a new park, she noted. The City Wide Community Center was built on the Heights in 2018. Downtown was revitalized. A lodge was built for ice skating at White Park, usable just a few days a week during a few months of the year.

“I don’t know why this area of the city is being forgotten or it’s no longer important to people,” Kretovic said. “Back when we were looking at the Heights Community Center, it was made very clear that on our side of town, on the west side of town, that there would come a time where we needed to have a community center here. But now, all of a sudden, that’s not okay.”

Tom Croteau lives within walking distance of the course. He served as a non-golfing voice on a building committee that gave a new clubhouse its unanimous stamp of approval, supporting it as a needed space to gather in his neighborhood.

“I’m still convinced that this can be a place where non-golfers can come and enjoy and spend some money as well,” he said at a December meeting.

The building’s main function will continue to be a clubhouse for the golf course, complete with a bar, small restaurants, and golf simulator machines. It would be bookable, as it is now, for events and functions. 

Not everyone will use it, Kretovic acknowledged. At the same time, “not everybody uses the pools, not everybody uses the community center, not everybody goes to the library, not everybody goes hiking, but we all contribute to the cost of all of those,” she continued. “That’s why we’re part of a community. We all support each other.”

Charette sees those comparisons as apples and oranges.

“You can go into the library and you use that and you can do so at no cost. You can walk through a park without paying anything,” she said. “If they’re running a business, the money they earn is supposed to pay for their expenses.”

If taxpayers have to front the money for the course to afford a clubhouse, she said, the golf fund should eventually have to pay it back in full, not just a portion.

In reviewing the financial estimates developed by city staff, the City Council’s Fiscal Policy Advisory Committee recommended this week that the full council approve the $8 million plan.

Not everyone on that committee, though, gave it full backing. 

“I’ve heard pretty clearly from constituents that they don’t have an appetite to spend this much money,” At-Large Councilor Amanda Grady Sexton said. She indicated she’d support the lower-cost renovation, but couldn’t recommend a new construction. 

Champlin was among those voting in favor.

Beyond the golfers who use the course, he said Tuesday, having a well-maintained facility at Beaver Meadow, and other recreational attractions, brings workers and businesses to the area, improving Concord’s overall economic development.

“It’s a selling point,” he said. “There’s kind of a bigger picture here than just whether you happen to use the golf course or not… it’s all part of our overall recreational package that we offer.”

As part of the city’s budget and capital project deliberations, City Council is expected to make a decision about the clubhouse in May. With a long slate of major capital projects up for consideration, it makes more sense to weigh the capital pl an as a whole, the mayor said. A  public hearing to give feedback on the plan would happen at that time.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include comments from City Councilor Amanda Grady Sexton.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.