Commodore's Update

July 31st 2018

I wanted to take a moment to address the membership on a few upcoming events and club news.

Thanks to all of those who participated in the Race in the Bay for Stein Hospice. Race results are posted on the racing page of the website. The freighter was not included in the results due to lack of an entry fee, however his protest was noted. A special thanks to Sandy Biesenberger for putting together the social after the race.

August 18th is our next social and membership meeting. September 15th is our 2nd annual Robby's Voice regatta.

There is some club business that needs discussed on August 18. I have asked the bridge and trustees to pursue a dues increase for a vote in September. I've witnessed the extent to which the trustees go to stretch a dollar and keep our dues substantially lower than any other club. I believe we have reached the point where we are cutting our finances a bit close. We no longer have a contingency fund or long term project fund. We have been running without much reserve for a while now, and it's a simple fix. I know that most of us are aware that we couldn't run the club on a buck and a quarter forever, so this really shouldn't be surprise.

We didn't get here overnight. We've ramped up expenses quite a bit in the past few years. A few years ago we didn't have a gas bill, electric bill, building lease, cable bill, internet bill, two insurance policies and a cleaning lady. It's been a good run, but it's not fair to the trustees to constantly worry about club funding. It's nice to able to hire a band now and then for a social, or watch a college ball game on a rainy fall Saturday. If we want to keep doing this we need a few more bucks in the budget. We are still the cheapest yacht club you will find. We just need to adequately fund ourselves while still maintaining our tradition of fiscal responsibility. You don't have to take my word on the expenses, take a look. We have pages and pages of financial reports posted in the members only section of the website.

Please attend the August 18th meeting so we can move forward on this together. I appreciate your assistance.

Thanks,

Don Petsch