POA hears reports on finances, restaurants

At its monthly meeting on Thursday, the POA Board of Directors heard from Director of Business Development Tommy Lee about the food and beverage division.

Early 2020 saw POA managed restaurants performing well. In both January and February, the numbers were above the same period in 2019. In March covid-19 hit, and restaurant dining rooms were closed. Although both the BV Grill and Lake Point served meals to go, business was down.

In July, BV Grill was closed again when an employee reported a positive covid test.

When the restaurants reopened, Lee said, they were able to spread out through event and banquet space to allow diners to socially distance. Not all restaurants had that opportunity.

Patio and deck space were rearranged to accommodate more diners and recently outdoor heaters were added.

In September the restaurants reached 100 percent of the precovid revenue and October will probably do even better, Lee said.

The board also heard from Controller Stacie Higgins who said September was a great month for the POA with revenue up over budget and over September 2019. Both golf and lakes were over budget.

Covid restrictions have hurt restaurants and fitness classes.

Covid was also blamed for some extra expenses for cleaning supplies, but the Trafalgar Road fire was blamed for extra legal expenses. Salaries and employee benefits were better than budget.

Water is also having a good year, with income consistently up over both budget and last year. Expenses are also up, but they balance with income.

The POA has been repaying a loan to the water department that was used to help with fire expenses and the balance just under two million early in September. For the year, 1.6 million was repaid along with $37,000 in interest.

Higgins said the last few months of the year are cash poor for the POA and she expects some funds will have to be borrowed from the water department, but when members begin paying their 2021 fees — usually starting in December — that money will be returned to water and more payments will be made on the fire expense loan. Financial reports are available on the POA website. Go to bellavistapoa.com/ governance/financials/.

The board also passed the second and final reading on

policies to change the date when corporate officers are named; to prohibit committee members from using emails gathered for POA business; to require hunters to register with membership services; to clarify that the paved trail around Branchwood is limited to members and their guests and to limit salaried staff ability to endorse candidates for the board.

New lake regulations were approved. Now watercraft must use a counter clockwise rotation around the lake and when stopping to retrieve a skier or a tuber, they should always turn left.

Although current owners will be grandfathered in, motorized water craft over 26 feet will no longer be permitted on Bella Vista Lakes.