November Budget Meeting for 2019:

2019 Board Decisions:

  • We chose to keep the fees the same as 2018
  • We chose to rent out the extra 50 memberships for 2019
  • We are applying the 4 fiscal priorities:
    • Reduce debt – our payments of $203,103.72 include an additional principal each month to pay our loan off in 15 years.
      • $174,722.88 – required payments
      • $28,380.84 – principal payments
    • Build Reserves
      • We started the year with $26,488.40 in the bank account.  It can move over to the money market account.
      • We are budgeting to add $25,000 to the money market account
      • The CD matures in July 2019 so the money will move over to the money market account
      • This will give us $138,548.46 in our money market account
      • We decided to follow the bank’s lead and maintain six months’ of reserves in cash.
    • Maintain the pool
      • We have an income budget of $796,887.91
      • We have an expense budget of $567,073.08 in order to maintain the pool and do some projects
    • Enhance the pool for optimal use of space
      • We approved (in the budget number above):
        • The driveway repairs at $6041
        • The baby pool heater at $5100
        • The playground at $69,000
        • The seating area at $5000

  • 2019 Budget Overview

    • Here are 4 fiscal priorities to keep in mind as we move forward:
      • pay our debt down
      • build reserves
      • ensure we are the pool of choice (maintenance and enhancements)
      • enhance pool for optimal use of space and multi-faceted enjoyment by all members
    • As a reminder, we were granted the ability to extend our membership capability to 450.  We chose to rent those this year instead of selling them.  We have the same decision to make this year on what we do with them.
    • In order to show some different options, this page models out various budgets.  Not all of them will actually work though they answer those who have said they don’t want any assessment or those who want to go back to the days of yore -smaller membership, no extra rentals, lower fees.
    • In the future when the debt is paid, we will have more options to decide on membership overall numbers and certainly on the fee structure, which could likely be much lower.
  • Pay Down Debt:
    • Our 2019 budget choice would be between option A or option B.  The difference is whether or not we sell the extra 50 now or just continue to rent them out.  There is no pressing need for cash at this point so option A seems to be a better choice.  Once we commit to the sales we have no other choice but to work on budgets in the future that contain a higher % of membership dues which come from our active membership and less from our temporary membership.
    • Option A:
      • We make more money from our temporary membership and while the debt looms it’s better to get as much income as we can each year.
      • We preserve the right to increase our membership if and when we choose
    • Option B:
      • We make less money overall in membership because the fees for our full members are lower.
      • We get an infusion of cash at one time of $150,000 to sell all 50 memberships at once.
    • I am recommending we choose Option A
  • Build Reserves:
    • Once you understand the overall nature of the  budget, then you can look over to the columns where there is a grid to build reserves.  If we make it a point to add some $$ to our reserves each year we can build our own fund for maintenance overages, updates, etc., instead of borrowing at high rates.
    • We currently have very low cash reserves if anything goes wrong. We opened the year with a $26,488.40 balance.
    • We have a CD of $87,060.06, which will not mature until July 2019, so we’d have a penalty if we had to access that cash.
      • This reserve amount was a requirement of our first loan but is no longer necessary as of the refi.  That amount can go towards our reserves next year.
    • As we work through the budget process each year, we can keep in mind both the operating needs of the pool and the long term capital needs.
      • It’s cheaper to put away money now for future use than to borrow and have to pay debt payments of over $200K a year.
  • Ensure we are the Pool of Choice:
    • We have about a 20% decline rate each year for those who decline our offers of temporary membership.  I think this is because they are on every pool’s list they can get on in order to get somewhere.
    • Getting our offer process in place earlier will go a long way towards ensuring they choose our pool instead of another.
    • And once they are in our temporary membership status, we want them to stay there and hang with us for the years it will take them to become full members.
    • Keeping our pool beautiful goes a long way towards ensuring members choose us as their pool of choice.  In order to maintain the pool properly, we need to budget wisely and continue to try and get the most life out of our pool as possible.  Maintaining the infrastructure well allows us to extend the lifespan of our buildings.
      • Maintenance Schedule Doc
  • Enhance Pool for Multi-Use:
    • The pool’s makeup is very family oriented.  If you look at the totals you can see that we have a large contingent of kids who are whistled out of the pool every 45 minutes generally.  Between the sport court, the playsets and the teen pavilion there will be a place for them to go during that time, keeping them occupied and out of mischief.
    • Full Member: Totals:
      Adult 530 Adults in Pool: 1290
      Child 484 Children in Pool: 1043
      Caregiver 51 Caregivers: 124
      Senior 168 Total: 2457
      Temporary Full Summer:
      Adult 373
      Child 365
      Caregiver 43
      Temporary Late Summer:
      Adult 219
      Child 194
      Caregiver 30
    • When we surveyed the membership we received many responses back asking for things that would typically be thought of as “country club privileges”.   While some of them may not ever be choices we’ll make, they show that the membership is asking for things over and above the pool.
    • We are open for almost six months, allowing the pool to be highly used as a social gathering spot as well as for the water alone.  This list of enhancements allows us to plan for the next years and understand how to phase in an area in the back that better uses all of that current space.  Although the playset is expensive, we are at risk because the current playset is not to code and dangerous.

  • 2019 Suggested Budget

    • I have met with everyone who has a responsibility for income or expenses and we’ve build the budget for next year.
    • This is the fee schedule proposed for this year:
      Product: Fee:
      Weekday Guest Pass $5
      Weekend Guest Pass $10
      Full – Active Base Membership $375
      Full – Active Adult $125
      Full – Active Child/Nanny $100
      Full – Senior $75
      Full – Inactive $0
      Temporary Full Summer Base $825
      Temporary Full Summer Adult $125
      Temporary Full Summer Child/Nanny $100
      Temporary Late Summer Only $400
      Assessment $200
      Returned Check Charge $25
      Application Fee $50
      Offer of New Membership $3000
      Transfer of Membership Fee – Paid by Buyer $1200
      Late Fee:
      On or after Mar 1 $100
      On or after April 1 $250
      On or after April 15 Membership Revoked
    • The enhancements are listed here:
    • One area where we have had extensive discussions has been the snack bar.  We have a lot of requests for more healthy options and while Teri was able to provide some of those and sell them, she can’t provide items which have a “sell by date” at her expense when they may in fact not sell.
    • We propose a trial period of next year to see if we can offer more options and deliver a better service to the membership.
      • In order to allow for the sale of those items, we propose to get a new deli style fridge/freezer in the snack bar to enable more space.
      • Take over the ownership of the inventory
      • Order through Instacart and have delivered items we use for concessions, meets, snack bar
      • Order sandwiches and salads through Wagshalls and have them delivered twice weekly during the busy weeks of the season. We can adjust the order size to minimize waste and go up or down depending on demand.
      • Have ice cream delivered on a regular basis and pay Phil
      • Allow all members to put their purchases on their account
      • Take cash only from the extended season members of the other pools
      • Pay Teri $2000 to run it during all normal pool hours (basically the profit she makes)

  • 2018 YTD P&L

    • This is a current look at our income and expenses to date.  Income to come in will be all of the current bills on account that need to be pushed out to the members – a few hundred dollars.
    • Expenses outstanding still include:
      • membership management system
      • utilities
      • chemicals
      • path
      • viewing area
      • pool rebar fixes
      • (whatever the amount is for the pool heater plumbing issues)

  • Annual Meeting Info & Meeting Minutes

Motions to Approve for 2019:

Little Falls has a nice format to use for motions.  We have had trouble in the past ensuring that when we approve things they are in the meeting minutes and easily found.  This format should help.  This is a list of items we will need to address before the pool opens this year: