The state paid $300,000 to install. The pay back period will be about 100 years.
Well, Ohio must have improved its performance since I moved. I remember that the county I worked for in the mid 1970s got an unexpected grant near the end of the fiscal year (my boss and I were called to the state offices, the federal government had some money that was left-over/uncommitted and had to be spent or the next year's allocation to the state would be a percentage increase on the lower base) with the only string attached being that it had to be used immediately. The amount to the county was "only" in the six figures, but that bought a bunch of IBM Selectric typewriters which, I heard after I left Ohio, were mostly un-cratered and eventually sold for near salvage value.
The 100 years payback period is also much better than my own investments in golf lessons and modern technology, both which remain in the red (thanks to Chip Royce at the Dixie Cup, I have sunk more money in a used Titleist D3 driver similar to his which promises to reverse this trend).
I talk to a lot of course managers, superintendents, and green committee members. In my part of the country, the Southwest, $300k might get you six months in a good year. Of course, as noted in the Gainsville article, "it all depends" on what allocations and items are included in the maintenance budget. Some courses get free water; some can outsource instead of using union labor or expensive government employees; some have customers whose expectations are less demanding than others.