Justify a Budget Increase

A recent trend within the golf maintenance industry is the expectation of owners and/or management to achieve more with less leading to smaller budgets to support unwavering expectations of playability.

However, sometimes more resources are needed to meet these ongoing expectations. This creates an age old confrontation of choice between investing in the infrastructure and daily maintenance of the course (focusing on playability standards) verses holding back on the expenditure(s) in order to increase the bottom line operating profit. A common example looks like this, you ask, “can I have an additional $5,000 in the sand and soil line item in next year’s budget to be spent in February?” the response is this, “NO, there is sand in the bunkers already!” Now what? Here are a few strategies to get the “YES” you are looking for when justifying a budget increase is needed.

Do your homework
Review previous budgets and access/create industry reports to communicate the true need for your budget increase to remain competitive within your area or meet SOP’s

Keep it simple
Create easy to read documents with charts, graphs and other pertinent data that is aimed at your target group, note that a picture is worth a thousand words.

 
Enlist some help
Ask the controller, Chief Financial Officer or other credible property affiliated expert to help you organize your request, this will be a great chance to learn the deeper inner workings and pressures of the accounting processes of your organization.

Be modest
The general rule is the larger the request the more justification you will need, quantify every dollar requested in detail.

Know the ROI
There may be a need for a ROI (Return on Investment) commitment and research. If you can prove that an investment today can pay for itself in a given time and perhaps save money ongoing you increase the likelihood of getting your budget request exponentially.

The right words
Lastly, when it comes to requesting budget increases choose your words carefully. In our opening example we asked “can I have” rather we should convey the magnitude of the request, “I need a $5,000 increase in the sand and soil line item in February 2017 to replenish the average depth of sand (4”) within our bunkers in accordance to club specifications for member play, section three, paragraph one as established by the green committee in 2012”.  

Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, is a former golf course superintendent and frequent GCI contri butor.