Last week, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. stood elbow-to-elbow with other dignitaries, stuck a silver-plated shovel into the ground and announced nearly $6.5 million to renovate a clubhouse at Rocky Point Golf Course.

The groundbreaking commemorated the East Side politician’s first major capital project at one of the county’s five golf courses, which will transform a stuffy, decades-old clubhouse into a modern space fitted with a “grill room,” kitchen, patio outdoor seating, a new pro shop and banquet space. County officials described it as a “down to the studs” renovation.

The county’s public golf courses are ordinarily self-sustaining, financed by a local agency — the Baltimore County Revenue Authority — that “does not directly receive appropriations from general purpose units of government,” according to its website. But Olszewski’s pledge was over and above the Revenue Authority’s $2 million contribution.

Olszewski, who is running for an open congressional seat this fall against Republican Kim Klacik, argues that the spending is necessary as the county prioritizes recreation with $220 million in overall investments. Rocky Point, a golf course with views of the Chesapeake Bay, can’t bring in enough money from its operations to finance the project, he said.

“The county had to put up enough money to make the numbers work,” he said.

Some county residents, though, see the expenditure as an overreach that benefits only a small number of the county’s more than 800,000 residents. They question why the Revenue Authority, which normally finances its own projects through golf course profits or through selling bonds, is taking county funds that could be used for fire, roads or playing fields.

They also lament that the county has skirted environmental protections at the course for years, and worry the new restaurant could siphon business from already-struggling Essex facilities.

Doug Celmer, a leader with the Back River Neck Peninsula Community Association, said a more pressing local need is a training facility for East Side fire and rescue squads. The companies were instrumental in the March 26 Key Bridge rescue effort and hoped to secure funding from a community benefit that Tradepoint Atlantic was planning from a dredging project, but the company canceled.

“The administration made a poor choice in allocation of resources,” Celmer said.

Deviating from the norm

At the crux of the funding dispute is the Revenue Authority, a financially “self-supporting” local agency that oversees five golf courses, seven parking garages and a sportsplex. It dates back to 1955, though its mission has evolved since then. The Baltimore County executive appoints the chair, who appoints the chief executive.

Ken Mills, chief executive of the Revenue Authority since 2012, said his agency funded all capital projects at the four other golf courses in his current tenure (he also ran the Revenue Authority from 1985 to 1993). Rocky Point is the last on that list to be renovated.

Former revenue board members and County Council members don’t recall using county money for the golf courses before 2012, either. “I know of no situation where that’s happened,” said Les Pittler, an attorney who served on the board from 1997 to 2012 and said he never missed a meeting.

The County Council approves Olszewski’s budget. Councilman David Marks noted that the $6.435 million earmarked for the Revenue Authority was unusual. But the Upper Falls Republican said that it was not a top concern in the 200-plus page budget. “There was so much to question,” Marks said. “I don’t think this is one we zeroed in on.”

Carl Maynard, a past president of the Back River Neck Peninsula Community Association, agrees the money could be better spent on other needs. “You have to run the golf course as a business, to make money, but who is putting up the money? The county is, and that is taxpayer dollars,” he said.

Mills said the use of county funds is appropriate because the Revenue Authority is managing a public asset. The county also put up $2.5 million for the Reisterstown Sportsplex, with the Revenue Authority putting up the other $2.5 million. Rocky Point makes money, which flows back into Revenue Authority coffers for maintenance on it and the other courses. The course is considered nice, but not fancy.

“Any improvements are a good thing,” said energy consultant John Perrone, of Severna Park. “They’ve already cleared a lot of brush and made it really nice.”

The Revenue Authority has about $18 million in total current assets, but much of that is earmarked for future projects, Mills said.

“What’s happening in the economy in terms of the increase in construction costs, inflation and the impact on construction — that’s why the number is where it is,” Mills said. “We’re really doing a very utilitarian building.”

‘Paying their way out’

The impetus for the Rocky Point improvements came from Robert J. Romadka, an East Side philanthropist who brokered the deal to sell the farms that comprise Rocky Point in the 1950s. Now 94, Romadka — who has known Olszewski’s father, former councilman John Olszewski Sr., for decades — went to see the younger Olszewski after his 2018 election to discuss the clubhouse. Olszewski knew the course; he has taken lessons there, and held fundraisers there in 2023 and 2024.

“It’s about time we improve it,” Romadka said. “The reasons we haven’t is because we’ve made so much money with golfers, and we’ve been using our money to support the other clubs, and that’s fine. But now it’s our turn.”

The golf course is located across the Back River from Miller’s Island, where the county executive lives, though it’s a half-hour drive away.

One of the most important investments will be hooking Rocky Point Golf Course up to public sewer, which Mills said would cost about $700,000. The course is on a failing septic system. The state and county approved the sewer hookup.

A functioning system is certainly an improvement over one that is failing, but Back River Peninsula residents lament that the county didn’t follow the rules imposed on the rest of the peninsula more than a decade ago, when all area residents had to hook into the public sewer.

Matthew Geckle, a cement company owner who is part of a coalition pushing for stronger state septic regulations and compliance laws, said no property should have a failing system. But, he said, Rocky Point kept theirs for years “because they are the county and didn’t want the expense.”

Two weeks before the groundbreaking, the county also agreed the Revenue Authority could pay a one-time fee of $28,000 instead of treating stormwater, one of the Chesapeake’s major pollutants. Maryland is so behind on its 2025 deadline to reduce urban and suburban stormwater runoff that EPA Region 3 Administrator Adam Ortiz said last month he is considering increasing oversight to ensure better results.

Under existing regulations, when a business adds thousands of square feet of impervious surface, the owners must come up with a plan to treat their runoff. Options include a rain garden, bioswales, an infiltration wetland or a stormwater pond.

Other counties have invested in their golf courses, but in different ways.

When Anne Arundel County bought The Preserve at Eisenhower Golf Course from the city of Annapolis in 2017, county officials invested $6 million on clubhouse upgrades — including major stormwater improvements. Those included more than 13 acres of wetland creation and enhancement, 6,255 linear feet of stream restoration, and 1,343 linear feet of boardwalk to protect natural resource areas and allow floodplain connection, according to Anne Arundel County budget officer Chris Trumbauer. The county won a top award from the National Association of Counties for its innovative efforts at Eisenhower. Other than that capital investment from the general fund, Trumbauer said, both Eisenhower and the county’s other course, Compass Pointe, are largely self-sustaining entities.

At Rocky Point, Baltimore County officials let the Revenue Authority opt out due to “unreasonable hardship or practical difficulty” and pay the $28,000 fee instead.

“They didn’t do proper stormwater management. Everybody else would have,” Celmer said. “The county is just giving themselves an exemption, paying their way out.”

Mills said the fee that the Revenue Authority paid is “standard” and that even with an 18,000-square-foot addition, the project would create less runoff.

“Basically a lot of the expansion is being built on area that’s already impervious,” he said. “Effectively, we’re going to create more pervious surface to capture runoff and to naturally treat rainwater.”

Planned ‘grill room’ leaves bad taste

A few years ago, the Baltimore County liquor board held a testy hearing for Rocky Point’s liquor license. Some business owners worried that a county-funded restaurant would create unfair competition. Rocky Point backers said it would not be a restaurant, but rather a grill room, as many courses have. They got the license.

Bruce Laing, whose family has owned the Island View Inn since 1968, said he knew nothing about the Rocky Point renovation until a Banner reporter called him. He was furious, especially because three restaurants within the golf course’s neighborhood closed this month. Many more have invested millions of dollars on amenities so they can stay in business. Laing himself has turned to weddings since the pandemic because business became so challenging for him.

“Why are we competing in retail sales with Baltimore County? That is not the government’s mission. It makes no sense to me,” Laing said.

Mills said the other county courses have places to grab a bite, and he just wanted to provide the same service at Rocky Point. At a meeting in February, Mills said, people initially had concerns about local competition, but pivoted to praising the changes as a “wonderful asset.” The restaurant will serve food when the course is open, and will cater mostly to golfers.

“We’re not going to operate like a commercial restaurant,” Mills said.

Celmer doesn’t doubt the renovations will make it nice. He’s just not convinced any of it is necessary.

“You’re taking taxpayer dollars to compete with struggling restaurants in the community,” Celmer said. “Somewhere, there’s gotta be an accountability for the money that they make to justify … [millions] in taxpayer funds.”