OCEAN PINES – Members of the Ocean Pines Association’s board of directors say they’re committed to cutting costs to manage a budget deficit but declined to pass a motion to that effect.
Last Thursday, board member Slobodan Trendic made a motion to instruct General Manager John Bailey to reduce operating expenses for the 2018-2019 fiscal year by 5 percent. Though it failed to get a second, Doug Parks, president of the board, stressed that the matter was being addressed.
“I think the perception here is something that could be misinterpreted,” Parks said. “By no means are we abandoning any approach to preparing a fiduciarily responsible budget that does deal with the deficit.”
Trendic said the association’s audited financial statement from 2016-2017 reported a year-end deficit of $363,640. The association’s latest financial reports for 2017-2018 indicate that the fiscal year will end with another, potentially larger, deficit. Trendic said that was the impetus behind his motion to cut costs by 5 percent.
“The intent is to deal proactively with the deficit concerns by implementing cost saving measures,” he said. “This will enable the association to improve financial performance in a fiscally responsible and conservative way.”
When the motion died with lack of a second, Parks said that Bailey was already taking the association’s recent deficit into consideration as he developed the coming year’s spending plan. He said that implementing a specific target would hamper Bailey’s ability to be creative in reducing expenses.
“There are many things that are under discussion right now that are leading to a reduction in costs,” Parks said.
During Bailey’s report to the board Thursday, he said a draft of the coming year’s budget had just been completed. It will be provided to the budget and finance advisory committee later this month and will then be reviewed by the board.
“I’m looking to better communicate details of the budget,” Bailey said.
A budget is typically adopted in February for the fiscal year that begins May 1.
