Once again, golf revenue keeps OPA ahead of monthly projections overall

By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(Oct. 5, 2023) Ocean Pines Association General Manager John Viola and his staff are gearing up for next year’s budget process, he announced at the Saturday’s meeting of the association’s board of directors.

Viola said he wants to be able to show the board where the association’s replacement reserve balances will be over the next five years, considering the many major initiatives coming up: the fire station, irrigation and racquet sports.

“We have said we wanted to be at 22-28 percent in our reserves and we have certainly matched that if not gone higher,” Viola said.

He recommends now that OPA should be at 28-32 percent in reserves.

“The team has been forward-thinking and this has been planned over the last several years.”

Linda Martin, the senior executive office manager for the association reported on the financials for the month of August.

The unaudited numbers show that actual numbers beat the budget by $137,000 for that month.

The current year to dates has actuals favorable to budget by $439,000 for the year. The revenue year-to-date is $12 million and expenses were $5.7 million. The Golf Club continued to carry the day with $110,000 above projections.

“Golf is the economic engine that is carrying favorability for us,” Viola said.

The only two areas that went negative for August were the yacht club and the marina.

“The weather did hit us this year. We probably lost $40,000 in projected revenue for golf due to the weather over the last two weeks. We had small craft advisories more than we have had the last several years, so the marina was hit. Same thing with the yacht club. But this is exciting. It shows we have the right product. It is priced right and we are on the right track.”

Ocean Pines currently has $9.2 million in reserve.

Monica Rakowski, in providing the treasurer’s report, told the board the association had approximately $18.7 million in cash as of Aug. 31. Cash increased by about $700,000 from the same time period last year, she said. Cash decreased about $50,000 from July 2023. The association has $11.2 million invested in FDIC-insured certificates of deposit (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service) and $43,000 in interest income recognized for the month.

The remaining $7.5 million in insured cash sweep, treasury bills, money market and other operating accounts diversified between two local banks, she said.