By Greg Ellison

(Sept. 17, 2020) OPA General Manager John Viola, in addition to reporting overall positive budget numbers, highlighted several proposed amenities upgrades during the board of directors meeting last week.

Looking at July 2020 financials, net revenues were favorable to budget by $326,000, with expenses unfavorable by $8,000 for a net operating favorability of $318,000 for the month.

“Last year we were $55,000 favorable for July,” he said.

Viola also noted the current monthly totals were bolstered by Payroll Protection Program funding the OPA received earlier this year totaling $1.14 million.

Looking at monthly department breakdowns for July, General Administration led the pack at $283,000 favorability to budget, which included about $398,000 in PPP funds with $100,000 of the sum booked for bad debts.

Other departments with positive budget numbers during July included the yacht club at $41,000, public works at $32,000, marinas at $32,000 and golf operations at $21,000, while aquatics closed the month negative to budget by $79,000 and the beach club was in the red about $26,000.

Viola said year-to-date numbers are also trending positively at $931,000 favorable to budget compared to $309,000 favorability at this point last year.

Viola said general administration is favorable to budget by $979,000 for the year due in large part to PPP funding.

“We basically at this point have utilized the $1,143,000,” he said. “We won’t see that going forward.”

Viola also reviewed new projects, including soliciting bids for accounting and waste services.

“The ‘long range plan team’ is in place preparing information for the budget process and working with the Budget and Finance and Strategic Planning committees,” he said.

Annual grounds maintenance work is underway on fairways and greens at the Ocean Pines Golf Course.

“We are seeing positive results in the last couple days,” he said.

Viola said marina manager Ron Fisher is teaming with Recreation and Parks Director Debbie Donahue, along with Director of Public Works Eddie Wells and Public Works Operations Manager Nobie Violante, to work with Worcester County officials on a proposal to install six additional boat slips, intended as non-rentals for visitors.

“That should definitely help with the food and everything else at the yacht club,” he said.

Viola said initial cost estimates are in the $30,000 range with more details likely by next month.

Another expansion under consideration would add court facilities at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center.

“This proposal will not touch any of the other courts. They will still be in place,” he said.

The idea is to build combination courts to accommodate different racquet sports.

“Terry and Tim McMullen are talking about a court for junior tennis [that] would be a combination for four pickleball courts,” he said. The dual-purpose courts could be used for tennis instruction in the morning and pickleball competitions in the afternoon.

“Pickleball is ramping up and we have a lot of people playing so we do need the courts,” he said.

Viola said the proposed courts would be handicapped-accessible with costs estimated between $40,000 to $70,000 depending on available grant funding.