Finance Committee Meeting Minutes: February 14, 2024

MRG Meeting Minutes Feb 14, 2024

Attendees

Will Kriewald

Andrew Carey

Andrew Snow

Brian Williams

Geordie Hall

Bryan Hall

Richard Gervase

John Tobin

Leigh Michl

Brad Noble

 

Regrets: Jeff Whittingham, Matt Lillard, Sharon Crawford, Meg Schultz

 

Meeting started by Will at 1PM (new time for Finance committee).

 

Brian volunteered to take minutes for this meeting on a regular basis.

Will motion to approve

Leigh Second

Approved

 

Minutes Review

Georgie moved after addition of one item (skill patrol cost in budget, part of facilities)

Will second

Approved

 

 

Jan Financials/Andrew (review)

Revenue

Got open on full mountain after a few days in January on the practice slope.

Roller coaster weather. Lost a week on main mountain in total versus last year.

We are tracking employee visits as they drive additional revenue on the mountain.

Base box >26K$ above last year.

Andrew Carey – Yield issue on day tickets, Andrew Snow, yes lower this year. Brian noted 75 vs 71$ between Jan 23 and Jan 24. Suggested it might be due to mix (type of ticket – SH, youth).

One time 75^th anniversary costs covered by MRG but not included in budget. 32K$ total expense.

 

Ski school above budget, more than double last year. Revenue is pre-booked rather than allocated by lesson delivery. It is likely YE will be better than last year with these good revenue numbers.

 

Cricket club cost increase as we are providing 3-year-olds lessons.

Andrew C – how is Cricket Club covering lessons for 3 year olds? Andrew S – Paying for ski school staff.

Total income up 68K$ for Jan, good relative to conditions. Assume pent up demand for fresh snow and sunshine as season pass visit were higher than last year.

 

 

Expense/Andrew (review)

Only 25K$ above budget against higher revenue for increase in NOI of 43K$ versus budget.

Will – data on main mtn open vs not. Do skier visit numbers differentiate for this? Andrew S – know what to expect for day ticket sales on practice slope/main mountain. Value is having scans for season pass holders. Cannot explain quantitatively what other sales are impacted but appear to be positive.

Leigh – Still using the 1,2,3,4 rating model for weather? Andrew – Yes, we are also using half points in the model.

Geordie – Can we do something to increase the younger (cricket club) demographic? Fully support expanding Cricket club offering for lessons. Andrew S – loses money but we offer as a service for skiers.

Health insurance rates hard to budget/predict as rates come out in Jan of the fiscal year and budgeted in the prior June. Expect variation to continue to be positive here.

Budget close to last year after backing out 75^th party expenses noted above.

Will – Are health care and wages timing? Andrew S – yes, mostly just timing. Ski School wages especially.

Retail cost of goods sold just below 47% for retail.

Greybeards/ women’s ski school programs have both grown this year.

Net operating loss of 180K$. 40K$ better than budget.

Andrew C – Ski school still ahead of plan.

Will – results for timing-related items are more interesting on the YTD view.

Andrew S – Base box is less profitable this year versus last year, Andrew S – better Christmas week in 2022, more staff in 23-24, competition to get staff and some fish fry’s last year that we have not had this year.

Comment by Will that other areas are helping keep us close to last year by making up differences in day ticket revenue.

Geordie – What does it cost to maintain the cricket club building as it is separate? Andrew – Not sure as we do not have a sense of what the broken-out cost for just that is. Many costs shared with facilities.

Geordie – Should we consider flex pricing on Cricket club based on crowds as we do for day tickets to improve revenue?  Andrew S. – Something to look at as we have not yet. Will supported as a good idea.

Bryan Hall – Do we sell a card similar to the Stark Mountain card for Cricket club? Andrew S – Yes, there is a 10-day card prepaid.

 

Season pass holder visits are up, day tickets down.

 

Geordie – How are we on staffing, are we scrambling to cover shifts? Andrew S – no, overall we’re good. All shifts are filled for the upcoming holiday week this year. No big holes.

John Tobin – Previously, day tickets were driving financial results, now season pass tickets are clearly driving.

Andrew C – barrier for season pass holder visits is much less. That is a good thing for other spend on the mountain.

 

Balance Sheet

2.339 M$,  increase of 307 K$ versus last year. Just under 2M$ after allowing for current loans (construction/ plowing equipment).

Will – 150 K$ increase in NOI so far this year along with other timing issues?  Andrew S – some timing issues but also some share sales are included in the total cash increase.

150K$ moved out of operating cash account to cover costs through end of ski season. Total operating cover on balance sheet is 640K$. 1.8M$ remain invested.

Andrew C – how much of the 640K$ will we need for the rest of the year. Better NOI may allow us to take out less. Andrew S – April seasons pass sales will eliminate the need after April.

Andrew C – Should we move more cash to t-bills? Andrew S – No, money markets and T-bill rates are similar right now.

This cash may be needed if we can move forward with the double chair mid-station investment this summer. Still trying to find how much SMF may contribute for this project. We may need this for project capital.

Will – what is the forecasted NOI? Andrew S – about break even for the FY. Walked through the FY view.

 

Andrew C – Thank you to John Tobin for keeping us afloat in the tough years.  2015/16 is the disaster year we are thinking of. We are better positioned to cover.

 

No other business.

 

Motion to adjourn by Geordie

Second by Andrew Carey

Meeting concluded at 1:49PM