CARBONDALE - Difficulty paying down debt is not a hardship confined to credit card holders and home owners.

For the third time in four years, the Carbondale Park District will borrow money to make the year's payments on its debt. The district currently owes about $2.2 million, which was used for construction of Hickory Ridge Public Golf Center and clubhouse.

Park district board members unanimously approved the $397,000 loan Monday to ensure enough cash is available to cover operating costs like paying district workers.

Brian Ramsey, the district's director, conceded Tuesday that the loan is "like borrowing from Paul to pay Peter," but it's a necessary measure in the face of rising expenses.

"Fuel, utilities, insurance: the costs associated with the district are always rising," he said.

The district's treasurer, Carmen Suarez, said the semiannual payments on the debt were too much.

The payment schedule "is ambitiously structured so that large payments are made and are whittling down the debt but, at the same time, they're tying our hands," she said. "This is a way to give us some flexibility."

The debt goes back to 1994, when the district's board took out $2.8 million for the golf course and clubhouse projects. Ramsey said profits from the golf course will play a crucial role in helping the district reduce its debt.

"Preliminary estimates for the year's revenue at the golf course are $779,000," he said, before noting that amount more than covers the cost of operating the course and the club house.

Ramsey said it's too early to tally the golf course's profits from this year but the results of an audit currently being conducted should be available in December.

The district has put all capital projects on hold in what Ramsey calls a "very conservative year" for spending.

The loan was recommended by financial consultant David Phillips of Chicago-based Speer Financial, who said the move will buy the district time until its next refinancing opportunity in 2010.

Phillips said the district is literally paying the price for projections that were too rosy.

"It's not uncommon for even the most prudent projections to turn out to be too optimistic," he said before acknowledging how the nearby construction of several other area golf courses hurt Hickory Ridge. "There are situations that cannot be forecast. The economics and the density of available golf courses has changed that initial picture."

Ramsey said he expects the district will refinance but was noncommittal on a term length, saying it was too early to choose between 10 or 20 years.

blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com

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