Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc.
General Manager Report
September 2009
by Jan M. Ek
Financial Report:
We have completed August 2009 well within our budgeted projections and feel confident, despite some of our struggles in our golf division this year and the addition of the snack shops in our food service division, we will end 2009 with a positive variance to budget year-to-date.
The Management Team proposed to the Board of Directors that even with conservative Sun City home sales figures for 2010 and no increase in fees (annual assessments, golf or bowling), both the $1.6 million in deferred repairs and maintenance, as well as the completion of Fairway Phase II could be completed in 2010, provided that an additional source of revenue be provided the golf division by offering 250 outside golf memberships for $2,000 per year. The Management Team feels that these memberships will sell only with a 5-day tee time privilege, the same as is offered to our RCSC cardholders. Management understands and is sensitive to providing outsiders with the same privileges as cardholders. Management feels it is vitally important that this additional revenue be obtained, as otherwise our only option would be to reduce the condition of our golf courses, which we are adamantly opposed to. As you may already know, Sun City golf courses cannot be used for any other purpose, so it is vital that we figure out a way to support these golf courses so that the financial burden is not solely on the dwindling number of Sun City residents who use them at this time and so that the condition of the golf courses do not deteriorate, as it is essential that we attract golfers to Sun City to help provide for the courses over the long-term and hopefully be able to return to being exclusive to cardholders in the future.
Bowling Division:
In August we held our final summer no-tap bowling tournament. The tournaments were a huge success. Each tournament was filled with 64 bowlers at least two weeks prior to each tournament date.
USBC lane inspections were performed at both centers over the summer. Lanes inspections include measurements of lane depressions and cross tilts which must be with 40 thousandths of an inch. Also inspected are pin decks and flat gutters; flat gutters have a tolerance of ¼ inch. Both centers are in compliance with USBC specifications for the 2009/2010 season.
Pin decks are now scheduled to be replaced at Bell Lanes on October 5, rescheduled from September 28. The installation will be performed each night after closing with the center reopening in the morning until the project is completed. The final cost of the project is $20,000 which includes replacement of two pin decks at Lakeview Lanes. Once the installation is complete, USBC will re-inspect the lanes for compliance.
Food Service Division:
Snack shops will be closed in connection with the overseeding schedule, excluding Willow, which will have one course open regardless. Lakes Snack Shop will close for the first time this year, as both courses will be closed during Lakes East overseeding. The RCSC Snack Shops are now open from 6am to 3pm, excluding Lakes and will resume winter schedule as of November 1, which is 6am to 5pm.
Cardholder Services:
Auditing of each property has begun in full force and will ultimately result in additional fees collected for unreported changes in ownership. We have completed our process of being able to electronically compare Maricopa County Assessor records with our own which will speed up the process of reviewing 27,431 records, and will provide us with much more efficient auditing processes in the future to ensure that unreported changes do not exist for years.
We have referred 311 past due deed real estate owners for outside collections contact. The owners referred in this first batch represent owners that are past due prior to May 1, 2009. These members total $243,206 in amounts past due. Contact from the collections agency should have already started this week.
Information Technology:
The IT project to improve network performance to golf course locations has commenced. These locations have point of sale applications in both the pro shops and snack shops. Staff productivity and cardholder service levels will both improve as a result of these changes. All components for this project have been ordered and changes will be completed during over seeding closure times to limit the impact to staff and cardholders.
Also included in this project is improvement of service to Bell Center as this center consistently represents up to 50% of the total of all center visits. This upgrade will improve the cardholder service by ensuring availability of the online check-in application for RCSC attendants.
Human Resources:
RCSC has renewed medical and dental benefit plans with Aetna for the plan year beginning October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010. The corporation paid life insurance was placed with another provider, the Lincoln Financial Group, who provided a more favorable bid which will result in an $8,000 savings. Due to an increase in plan benefit usage, Aetna increased our medical premium by 21% and the dental premium by 5.4%. Due to several major claims, we were unable to secure more favorable bids from other providers.
We recently completed a review of our job titles, classifications and pay ranges which included extensive research and comparison of other like or similar organizations’ salary ranges. We have adjusted our ranges to fairly compensate RCSC employees and allowing RCSC to remain competitive in the job market.