By Greg Ellison

(Nov. 25, 2021) Ocean Pines Treasurer Doug Parks reported on the associations’ financial standing, investment rates of return and reserve balances during the board meeting on Saturday.

Parks said the associations’ cash position dipped slightly to end September.

“We had $16.4 million in cash compared to $16.8 million last month,” he said.

At the end of September, the association reported approximately $16.4 million in cash and investments, with that sum split with $8.1 million in CDARs (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service) and $8.3 million in money market funds and other operating accounts.

Parks also noted a slight reduction in return rates, which dropped to 0.75 percent in September.

“It had been holding steady at 0.85 percent for about four or five months,” he said. “It’s a reflection of market conditions.”

Looking at assessment collections, Parks said the total through September is ahead of last year.

“In 2020 through September, we collected $8.7 million of $9.1 million or approximately 95.3 percent,” he said. “In 2021 of $9.34 million due we collected through September $9.31 million or 99.69 percent.”

Parks said delinquent accounts currently total roughly $29,000.

“Kudos to everyone in Ocean Pines that understands the importance of paying their assessment and allowing us to budget accordingly,” he said.

Turning to reserve accounts, Parks said overall balances dropped from $7.8 million to $7.6 million during September.

Parks said the change included a transfer of $100,000 in general replacement reserves and a comparable total in bulkheads.

“We’re tracking well and there’s no surprises there,” he said.

Parks said to end August the association was trending toward a year ending total reserve account balance of $6.2 million but are now estimating a sum of $6.05 million.

“We’re about where we need to be going into next fiscal year so we can plan contributions to reserve accounts and budget going forward,” he said.