Who's Fooling Who
Commentary by Joe Reynolds

It is OPA budget time. Yes, budget time.... that's when the General Manager, usually with the complicity of the Board of Directors, comes up with some numbers on amenities only a fool would accept, yet association members do so year after year.

Case in point is the Yacht Club. The current fiscal year budget, put together this time last year, predicted a $400 profit on Yacht Club operations. The board passed off on the number.

As of the end of December 2007, operational losses at the Yacht Club were $6,490 with four lean months remaining in the fiscal year. Here's the history of those four months in recent years:

2004-2005

• January $41,000 loss
• February $24,000 loss
• March $27,900 loss
• April $25,900 loss

2005-2006

• January $40,700 loss
• February $32,000 loss
• March $27,900 loss
• April $19,600 loss

2006-2007

• January $46,500 loss
• February $42,400 loss
• March $40,500 loss
• April $29,900 loss

Using the numbers from last year for the months of January through April the anticipated total loss at the Yacht Club for fiscal 2007-2008 (our current fiscal year) could be in the range of $160,000.

As further confirmation of a possible $160,000 loss, at the end of December 2006 the Yacht Club showed an operational profit of around $33,000 compared with an operational loss at the end of December 2007 of about $6,490. In the 2006-2007 fiscal year the Yacht Club total loss was around $126,000 --- the $33,000 profit at end of December plus the losses ($159,000) for the last four months of the fiscal year.

At this point we do not know the losses for the last four months of this fiscal year, but we do know the losses through December were $6,490. Add in the losses for the remaining four months based on history and the total loss at the Yacht Club for the current fiscal year may top $160,000, compared with $126,000 last fiscal year.

OPA management tells us things are improving at the Yacht Club. Unless someone can show where the numbers above are incorrect, who's fooling who?

The yearly charade continues in the current budget process. In the proposed budget the General Manager is predicting a $44,000 loss at the Yacht Club for fiscal 2008-2009. This amounts to wishful thinking, at best, and outright deception at worst.

The GM seems intent of claiming some new Yacht Club business plan will bail us out, a business plan descried as "pathetic" by at least one member of the Budget & Finance Committee. Even if the plan is perfect, any plan must be implemented by management.

Why would anyone think the current Yacht Club management will miraculously become expert after almost 12 years of continuous failure?

Similar wishful budget thinking applies to golf, aquatics, and perhaps other amenities. Any budget approved by the board should be realistic. How long will association members allow themselves to be fooled by this annual budget charade?