Finance Committee Meeting Minutes: June 16, 2021

Attendance:  Andrew Carey, Andrew Snow, Brad Noble, Brian Williams, Eric Palola, Geordie Hall, John Skelly, John Stetson, Leigh Michl, Matt Lillard, Matthew Milan, Meg Hourihan, Meg Shultz, Richard Gervase, Sharon Crawford,

The meeting was brought to order at 8:03 AM by Brad Noble, MRG Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair.

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Approved May 2021 minutes

• Suggested corrections to the minutes: None
• Motion to approve by Geordie Hall; seconded by Richard Gervase. Minutes were approved.

Review of Financial Reports – Andrew Snow

• Documents can be found in the Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ssL58Deumi0ABxyQywyuvNDyS55kKcYJ?usp=sharing
• Balance Sheet
  • Cash position remains strong.
  • News was received that the second PPP loan ($560K) has been forgiven. It is not represented as such in these reports.
  • Share sales and preseason pass sales are significant contributors to the good position.
• P&L – May & YTD
  • Little to report for May.
  • Credit card service charges significantly exceed budget due to the spring season pass sale.
  • YTD NOI before grants, POP and COVID is at $157K, or down $355K from budget. After other income and expenses NOI is $976K vs. a budget of $234K.
  • Projecting a loss of $250 to 300K for the year. (The forgiveness of the PPP loans more than offsets the loss.)  The budget is described by Matt as realistic rather than aspirational, and is consistent with the budgets over the past three years.
• Cash Flow
  • Share sales continue to outpace expectations, YTD of $187K.
  • Assuming full forgiveness of the second PPP loan, we do not expect to touch the Rainy-Day Account or the LOC.

Budget

• The budget was proposed and reviewed by the FC.
• There are many challenges about using the 2020-2021 actuals for comparison when setting a new budget.
• The budgeted NOI is essentially a breakeven, $17K. As described by Matt and Andrew, the strong cash position enables us to experiment a bit with the pricing, passes, and a “new MadCard product.”
• Season passes will be limited to 10% less volume than was sold this past year. Note that shareholders can always buy a ticket or season pass.
• The “new MadCard product”, which is yet to be named, will be direct to lift, non-transferable and priced at a premium to reflect the flexibility it affords the buyer. It will be offered in 3-ticket and 6-ticket options.
• Adding staff to improve service and experience.
• Concern was expressed by several members of the FC to assure “responsible” wages.
• The cutoff date for season pass sales will be changed to September 30th to better align with our year end. This will require significant communication with the community.
• Transparency is imperative when setting prices, etc.
• Motion to recommend approval of the budget by the Board of Trustees by John Skelly , second by Geordie Hall. Motion is approved.

Other Discussion

• Mission Statement – Discussion is tabled to a future time. Geordie clarified that the goal of the discussion is to integrate the strategic planning with the financial oversight.

Next Finance Committee Meeting – September 15, 2021

9:16 am – Meeting adjourned.

Submitted by:  John Stetson