January - Early February 2014
Vol. 9, No. 10
410-641-6029
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress OPA president prefers total rewrite of code of conduct
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Thompson proposes $15 increase in lot assessments for next year Draft budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014-15 includes a $25 coupon for use at the new Yacht Club and four new Public Works employees to deal with drainage By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson and his management team have drafted a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 201415 that includes a $15 assessment increase, modestly higher fees for golf and tennis, but none for aquatics, and a $25 Yacht Club coupon to be issued to OPA members who have paid their assessments in full. In a special meeting of the Board of Directors Dec. 6 at the Ocean Pines Country Club, Thompson distributed thick budget books to board members and then highlighted some of the policy initiatives and assumptions embedded within it. OPA Controller Art Carmine and Assistant Treasurer Pete Gomsak, a former OPA board member, were involved with Thompson in preparing the budget for board review. The budget is not scheduled for adoption until the board’s regular monthly meeting in late February, so that will give plenty of time for the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and the directors to review it. Changes are likely before the final version and assessments and amenity fees are formally adopted at the February meeting. In introductory comments, Thompson said the budget reflects the fact that the OPA will be dealing with the opening of the new Yacht Club and the first full season of the new Yacht Club swimming pool. He emphasized the importance of hiring and training staff who will be able to deliver quality food with consistently good service. He also said that the OPA will need to improve marketing of the new facility. In an explanation for why he is
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proposing a $15 assessment increase, Thompson said that his draft budget actually produce an $8 net decrease in the assessment just from operations. That would be offset by a $7 increase in depreciation expense, a $6 increase in new capital expenditures funded from next year’s lot assessment rather than reserves, and a $10 increase in the assessment attributable to the $25 coupon incentive program he is proposing for the Yacht Club. The result is a $15 assessment hike. Thompson later explained that the budgetary impact of the $25 coupon incentive program is only $10 on the assessment because not every property owner will redeem the coupon. He said the impact is a guess, but that the
real purpose of the coupons is to bring people into the new facility. “We hope people will be spending a lot more than $25,” he said. Thompson said his budget assumes that Billy Casper Golf will manage the Ocean Pines golf course for another year, something that has not yet been nailed down in a formal contract extension. This is not a surprise. Thompson indicated as much in public comments last year and more recently, OPA President Tom Terry retreated from earlier hardline comments that seemed to suggest he was leaning against a contract extension if the company didn’t meet its budget targets in To Page 23
A proposed code of ethics for the Board of Directors appeared to be on a fast track for approval at the Dec. 18 regular board meeting after its introduction at a work session earlier in the month. But something happened on the way to that quick approval: Reservations by Ocean Pines President Tom Terry. He says that the draft offered for board review by Directors Terry Mohr and Dan Stachurski at the board’s Dec. 4 work session is not the version of an ethics code that he wants the board to consider ~ Page 7
Yacht Club pool patrons get direct access to tiki bar
Patrons spending a lazy day lounging by the Ocean Pines Association’s Yacht Club swimming pool will be able to order food and drinks without ever leaving the pool enclosure when the reconstructed amenity opens for business this summer. The Yacht Club campus will feature an expanded tiki bar that intersects the pool deck, allowing swimmers and sun worshippers to place their orders and dine al fresco. ~ Page 12
Board dives into old controversy over pool financing
For some Ocean Pines residents, the vote by the Board of Directors in 2006 to enclose the Sports Core pool and finance it by a $500,000 bank loan and accumulated reserves is as fresh as if it happened yesterday. The Sports Core pool enclosure funding issue resurfaced for a brief reprise at the current board’s Dec. 18 regular monthly meeting. The board voted 5-1 to amend an Oct. 18, 2006, motion that dealt with how the Sports Core pool enclosure would be financed. ~ Page 27