'State of Ocean Pines' finances remain strong' - A message from the Finance Director

Based on the February 2020 monthly financial report, the state of Ocean Pines’ finances remains strong. As of Feb. 28, 2021, OPA has a positive year-to-date operating variance of more than $1.1 million, with total revenues favorable to budget by approximately $124,552 because of the Paycheck Protection Programing (PPP) funding received at the onset of COVID-19. In addition, the limited operations in the summer of 2020 because of the pandemic resulted in a significant reduction in overall expenses, down approximately $1,005,000 year-to-date versus the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget. The amenities that experienced the most negative impact because of COVID protocols were Aquatics, Beach Parking and the Yacht Club (total of approximately $460,000 down versus the budget to date). However, it must also be considered that the Yacht Club number would have been significantly worse if the Matt Ortt Companies did not receive a PPP loan to allow for their employee payroll to be funded for several weeks during the early summer 2020.

Now that the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget has been formally adopted by the Board of Directors, the Finance Department is gearing up for what is arguably its busiest time of the year. Attention will turn primarily to “year-end” responsibilities, which consist of the billing and collection of annual assessments, the sale of amenity memberships, the renewal of company benefits for employees, liability insurance renewals, an open enrollment period for employees, and, of course, a year-end audit. This year, we will be welcoming a former OPA audit firm, TGM, back to perform the independent audit. There have been a lot of changes since TGM performed the audits of the past for OPA, including a new general ledger account structure and new financial system.

Finance will also be working closing with Ocean Pines Office Manager Linda Martin in CPI, and an external company to complete an updated reserve study, which will place a market valuation and required annual contribution to the reserve accounts that have been established and designated specifically to replace Ocean Pines’ various asset types. This reserve study will consolidate our current asset listing and assign a replacement market value to each asset. It will serve as a working document that OPA can continue to utilize at budget time when the necessary annual contributions to the replacement, bulkhead, roads and drainage reserve funds are determined.