Finance Committee Meeting Minutes: September 17, 2025

Mad River Glen Finance Committee

Meeting Minutes

9/17/2025

Attendees: Bryan Hall, Will Kriewald, Andrew Carey, Leigh Michl, Brian Williams (scribe), Richard Gervase, Geordie Hall, Brad Noble

Management: Matt Lillard, Andrew Snow

Guests: Kate O’Neill, Stephen Sands

Absent: Meg Schultz

Agenda

8:30 am – Call to order – Bryan Hall

8:31 am – Review June minutes – Bryan Hall/Brian Williams

8:33 am – Review Summer and YTD financials – Andrew Snow

8:45 am – Review cash flow forecast – Andrew Snow

9:00 am – 2025-26 Budget updates – Andrew Snow

9:30 am – Adjournment

Approval of Minutes from Prior meeting

Will made a motion to approve, Richard seconded. Motion approved.

Summer through Aug Review

Revenue

Summer was steady and as expected. Sunday brunch eliminated this year. Lost about $20K in revenue but made up with new Wed night music offering.

Expense

In line with budget. No surprises. Final bonus payments of $80K in other expenses were not in budget, per our budget practices.

Net Ordinary Income

Net was $15K above budget excluding bonuses.

Geordie – How does the bonus payout compare to prior years. Andrew S – This was the largest bonus payout compared to prior years. Up to double prior bonus payments on personal basis. Geordie – good to see we are passing this good performance along to the staff!

YTD through Aug Review

Revenue

Summer revenue was as expected.

Expense

Summer expenses were also as expected.

Net Ordinary Income

Estimating $250K to $300K for full year 24-25. Historically, we have seen more variability with end of fiscal year adjustments. The range reflects experience.

Geordie – What were the 2 or 3 areas that led to the great performance this year? Andrew S/Matt – overall it was a good ski season. All departments were profitable. Will – Finance model provides the ability to pay out bonuses with downside protection for poor weather. Andrew S – Day lift ticket sales were the highest in many years. Great to see that upside.

Bryan – What would a bad year look like? Andrew S – Budget prepared to lose money with the buffer of our operating funds of $350K – $400K. A bad season would likely look better versus our worst-case year of 14-15 due to mid-station double and additional snowmaking.

Leigh – Are people pre-buying for holidays weekends or are there prebuys for other periods? Andrew S – Weekends tend to sell out in advance but half of those are sold well in advance. Many buyers are committing to dates independent of weather.

Bryan – Do we have capacity to add more day tickets in a weekend? Matt – No. Also, I do not know what the worst case looks like but less downside than previous bad weather years.

Geordie – There is concern with the drought. How might this impact snowmaking? Matt – the ground is dry. We need a good soaking first. Not concerned, yet.  Good flow is needed. There will be concern if this dry weather lasts another month or so.

Kate – Physical year ends Sept 30? Andrew S – Yes.

Kate – What is the “cash on hand” for the Co-op? Andrew S – We will go through this in the cash flow review. In the late teens, the Co-op accessed a line of credit of about $400K each year to get through the summer but that has changed – i.e., we have not accessed – with changes since that time: spring pass sales, strong share sales, Covid-era PPP grants and good operations.

Will – 2-3 years ago the operating and non-operating accounts were setup to manage the cash provided by the above. The minimum limits for each account were increased this year. Cash management is for both operating and non-operating (capital). A process was put in place to manage these funds.

Andrew S – We realized we need to earn interest on these funds and now invest in Vanguard funds and T-bills. Interest income may be lower given the recent drop in rates. Brian – Interest keeps the cash current for future investments.

Cash Flow Through Aug 25

Total Cash Review

$1.74M adjusted.

Brian – What was the total capital funded by Co-op this year. Andrew S- $600K for mid-station double with a total capital budget of $1M. About $200K funded by SMF. Our typical annual capital budget is closer to $200K.

Just over $2M total cash on the balance sheet at the end of August.

Cash Flow 2025-26 Projection

The Pub project is not included at this point as there are too many fundraising uncertainties to set a realistic timing.

Geordie – How confident are we of SMF executing a successful fundraising campaign? Andrew C – The CFC is spinning up capabilities to increase fundraising capacity and are currently having outbound conversations. We expect momentum to increase over the fall. A fundraising process exists. We could use more capacity for people to go out and work with potential donors in that process. Specifically, we need more MRG-focused folks to help with this donor-facing work.

2025-2026 Budget

Andrew S walked the group through the differences between June budget proposal and current budget proposal. The executive chef position was adjusted to a kitchen manager for some savings.

Insurance and property tax came down due to health insurance rates not increasing as much as estimated in June. Property tax increased. Matt – health insurance costs: Expected 15% and estimated at 7.5% and now looks like 5%.

Richard -Why do people opt-out? – Matt – The Co-op provides half of the savings to the employee for opting out but will not allow opting out if they do not have another option. The health exchange is not considered another option due to a high risk heading into 2026.

Nice to see the budget proposal has varied positively since June.

Geordie made a motion to recommend for board approval the proposed budget for final review in September. Brian second. Motion approved.

Bryan made a motion to close the meeting. Geordie seconded. Motion approved. Meeting ended 7 minutes early.