By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

John Viola

(Aug. 1, 2019) Ocean Pines continues to see positive financial results this fiscal year, as the association is $253,874 ahead of budget for the first two months of the year, with revenues $67,234 higher than budgeted and expenses $15,632 over budget, according to General Manager John Viola.

In the monthly treasurer’s report released earlier last week, Viola said the association had beaten the budget by $51,602 during the second month of the fiscal year. For the year-to-date fund variances, revenues exceeded budget by $242,575 and total expenses were under by $11,299.

“Reviewing numbers of this nature after two months does give me confidence that we are moving in the right direction for the year,” Viola said. “In everything we do, we do track to budget. Based upon the estimates and forecasting of spending for the reserves and for the individual budgets of my department heads in our review, I believe we are also moving in the right direction for the rest of the year.”

Several amenities and departments performed better than budgeted numbers by $51,602. These departments include the Recreation and Parks Department at $20,211, Yacht Club at $34,381, Beach Club at $7,440, Beach parking at $2,940, Marinas at $12,948, the General Manager’s Office at $3,354, Public Works at $8,643 and Finance at $2,448

“I want to highlight the strong performance of Rec and Parks, and the Yacht Club and Beach Club,” Viola said. “Overall, at this point, obviously we’re tracking favorable to budget and we are addressing many initiatives.”

Other departments missed the budget by $55,310. The Aquatics Department expenses exceeded the budget by $20,330, Public Relations by $16,864, Police by $3,449, General Manager’s Office by $1,195 and golf operations were over by $13,472.

The reserve forecast for the end of the 2019 fiscal year was $8.8 million, including $5.2 million in replacement reserves, $2.5 million in bulkheads and $1.1 million in roads. At the end of June, the total was forecasted for $11.1 million, including $6.7 million in replacement reserves, $3 million for bulkhead replacement and $1.4 million in roads. As of June 30, the association had about $16.1 million in cash overall, Viola said.

Fiscal year 2019, which closed on April 30, finished roughly $120,000 ahead of budgeted numbers, despite the early signs of being unfavorable.

Final audited figures for fiscal 2019 will be released during the Ocean Pines Annual Meeting, scheduled Aug. 10.