RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Rancho Murieta Country Club leaders say the club has regained some financial footing since 2022 but warned members Oct. 23 that it cannot remain solvent without higher dues or renewed assessments next year.

While the club has drawn interest from Preservation Golf, there is no buyer at this time. Carol Anderson Ward, the primary investor in Rancho Murieta Properties, said she and her partners continue to talk with potential buyers interested in the proposed Rancho North subdivision.

Board President Eric Dutton led the annual board meeting, which covered election results, the club’s financial outlook and possible ownership changes. The evening also included a tense exchange between Dutton and Ward, whose investment group owns the golf courses and facilities leased to the club until October 2028.

Election Results

Dutton announced that the election drew 360 votes – 226 from full golf members and 134 from social members – which met the quorum requirement. Dennis Wood and Walter Kim won seats on the board, and members approved all four ballot measures: reducing the board from nine to seven members, authorizing bankruptcy if needed, allowing the club to exercise its option to purchase the property by the Oct. 31 deadline, and authorizing the board to sell the club to Preservation Golf or another entity.

“You all voted overwhelmingly in the positive to give the board the option to do all the things they might need to do,” Dutton said later in the meeting. “It’s positive from our standpoint because we can see you’re behind what we’re doing, and that’s trying to do what’s right for everybody out here as a member.”

Keeping Doors Open

Dutton said that 2022 was the club’s worst financial year in recent memory.

“In 2022, we were down over $154,000,” he said, explaining that the club’s reserves “at least kept the doors open.” He credited management and staff with pulling the club back into balance in the years that followed.

In 2023, federal payroll relief and insurance reimbursements produced a small turnaround.

“We ended up at a plus $116,000, almost $117,000, with a slightly lower bank balance of $460,000 to $660,000,” he said.

The 2024 fiscal year also “finished pretty good.”

The club continued to show modest strength in 2025, though it remains “a bare-bones operation,” Dutton said.

“As of the end of September, we are positive at $12,000 basically. We’ve collected $230,000 in assessment money, and we’re sitting at almost $242,000 in the good.”

But Dutton cautioned that roughly $100,000 of the apparent surplus represented budgeted money that hasn’t yet been spent on the club’s $400,000 wage-and-hour lawsuit settlement.

“The judge just signed off on it last month, and we’re going to start making payments next month of $11,111 for the next 36 months,” he said.

Assessment Gap

Looking ahead, Dutton said the club faces a serious shortfall in 2026 when the $50 monthly assessment approved five years ago expires. Losing that revenue would remove $318,000 from the budget, and rising labor and supply costs are expected to add another $247,000, leaving a projected $565,000 gap.

“The dues will need to increase, obviously, by the maximum of 5% that the bylaws allow,” Dutton said. “But that’s not going to be enough money.”

A 5% increase would raise about $223,000, leaving a $342,000 deficit. To close the gap, Dutton said, the board has two main options: reinstate the current $50 assessment (and $15 for social members) or raise dues by about 13 percent: roughly equal to what the assessment generates.

“We’ll need a 13% increase just to stay flat moving forward,” he said.

He added that a 13% increase would generate about $579,000 and barely balance the 2026 budget, leaving only a small surplus of roughly $14,000.

Dutton also noted that a 2024 Troon Golf survey showed the country club had the lowest dues of any private club in the region.

Timing also matters. Dutton said that under the bylaws, dues can only be raised once in a 12-month period, meaning members would have to vote to allow an earlier Jan. 1 implementation rather than waiting until April 1.

Dutton also explained that the original assessment language for the Capital Improvements Fee was very broad.

“It has not been a separate fund that has been set aside to take care of bunkers or car paths or building infrastructure,” he said. “It has just been used to run the club. Without it, this budget would crash every single year.”

Six Options

Dutton said he was going to move on to what everyone wanted to know: the future of the club.

“Where are we headed? What’s going to happen next?” he asked. “Wish I knew. I wish I had a crystal ball.”

He then presented six possible paths:

1. New owner with lease: buyer assumes country club’s lease.
2. New owner without lease: purchase ends lease through negotiation.
3. Tri-party purchase: country club buys, then resells to buyer.
4. Close and exit: pay liabilities and walk away.
5. Bankruptcy: Not an option without a buyer and unless liabilities exceed assets.
6. Status quo: attempt to operate through October 2028, the end of the lease.

“I don’t know that anybody really wants to do that,” Dutton said of the status quo option. “Financially, we probably could survive, but I don’t think you want that to be the country club you’re in right now.”

Dutton added that members should look at the club’s real financial foundation when deciding what to do. Currently, the club’s total assets stand at $1.6 million, and the liabilities are just over $2 million.

Preservation Golf

One of the ballot measures authorized the board to sell the club to potential buyers, including Preservation Golf, a firm already familiar with Rancho Murieta Country Club.

Dutton explained that Preservation Golf “was involved back in 2016 when there was an attempt to sell the club.” He said the company “is re-engaged” and “really interested in buying the club.”

He said the current board had reached out to Preservation Golf, with the property owner’s consent, to give members a sign of hope.

“Preservation Golf is still actively involved in the process and is wholeheartedly interested in buying this country club and doing what needs to be done,” he added.

Other Buyers

Dutton said he understood that Rancho Murieta Properties was in contact with other potential buyers and invited Ward to comment.

Ward spoke with emotion about her long connection to the club.

“We want somebody in here that’s going to make this the greatest place they’ve ever seen,” she said. “We love this place. We want rooftops to support two golf courses.

“We can’t do it without the community that lives here, that takes it for granted. We’ve worked our asses off to get this far and thank the board for doing what they’ve done up to now.”

Dutton, referring to the club’s $24,000 monthly lease payment, responded lightly that he “almost thought I heard in there might be a little lease-payment relief someplace. Maybe I didn’t hear that.”

Member Group Attempted Purchase

An audience member asked Dutton what happened to members’ effort to buy the club (led by Tom Shewchuk).

Dutton clarified that the member-purchase effort “was a wholly, solely independent group of members that were trying to get people to buy in $15,000 and $75,000 to be an equity club and buy the property,” he said. “It was not us. … They showed that they could get enough money to make some improvements and run the club, but they didn’t have the capital to do all the things that we really want to see here.

”And so for that reason, it’s my understanding that their offer was not accepted,” Dutton said.

Rooftop Debate

After Dutton asked Ward if she wanted to elaborate, she said interest in the club was “really more from developers or people that are looking at us getting this development finished because we need the rooftops to support this.

“We need more rooftops that are using these facilities and paying to make them even better. And that’s what it’s going to depend on. If there’s still going to be pushback about not getting rooftops, you’re going downhill,” she added.

Dutton replied that while members understood the link between rooftops and growth, “it’s not appropriate to tell the members that we need to push for more rooftops.”

Ward asked in return, “Do they want this to succeed or not?”

The discussion grew more tense as Ward said the club had not fully met the maintenance standards in its 2012 lease.

Dutton acknowledged the point and explained the club’s responsibility under that lease.

“The lease says that when we … entered into the first lease for the club, the club was bound to maintain the golf course and facilities in the condition in which they were accepted at the time of the lease,” he said. “When it gets down to the lease here and the bunkers are in disrepair and the golf course and the facilities are in disrepair, that falls back on us.”

Ward responded: “Those deficiencies are not in any of your numbers for improvements.”

“I agree,” Dutton responded, “but you know where our numbers are at. Our numbers are keeping the door open.”

Before closing the discussion, Dutton thanked Ward for her efforts to find a buyer and acknowledged Rancho Murieta Properties’ role in shaping the club’s future.

“You’re looking for a buyer that’s going to come in with the capital to do what needs to be done, and we appreciate that,” he said. “We really do.”

Audience Comments

Audience comments reflected a mix of frustration and support. Tom Shewchuk blamed the club’s financial strain on dues not keeping pace with costs. Tami Fein suggested a communitywide fee to help support the club, but Board Member Bill Armstrong explained that it wasn’t possible.

Randy Pishek blamed past boards for the club’s struggles, Pamela O’Hern accused Ward of “holding the community hostage” by linking the sale to her property interests, and Lise Smith said members were frustrated and confused by misinformation.

Closing Remarks

Dutton said he would continue issuing his weekly Club Chat updates every Monday to keep members informed as the board weighs options for the club’s future.

Dutton ended the meeting by thanking those who attended.

“Expect another vote to come before the end of the year,” he said. “Everybody who’s a member is going to get their opportunity to weigh in on what we do next. And whatever that decision is, the board is going to honor it.”