April 3,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A reader recent stated during a discussion , “The Village actually makes money on Graydon. This was confirmed several times by the Mayor and Village Manager during recent Village Council meetings. In a nutshell, revenues from the pool exceed expenses by a significant amount and have done so for many years in a row”
According to Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon,” In looking at this year’s Village budget– tab 10– Department of Parks and Recreation 2017 budget under Graydon Pool the total expense listed in the actual 2016 budget was $273,895.87. This included temporary and seasonal salaries and wages– $186,798, and $87,097.87 in other expenses such as postage for flyers, printing costs, maintenance, supplies chemicals and several other items needed to run the facility. These were last year’s total expenses as listed in this year’s municipal budget.
In 2016 Graydon Pool brought in $336,177. The revenue breaks down as follows:
Ridgewood resident adult– $78,960
Ridgewood resident child– $118,140
Senior/disabled– $11,040 (the annual badge is sold for $30 to these patrons)
Nonresident adult– $29,680
Nonresident child– $11,025
POS– $87,332 (includes daily guest passes and outside camps)
So with revenues totaling $336,117 minus total expenses of 273,895.87 there was a positive difference of $62,281.13 in 2016. This make Graydon cash flow positive and in essence Graydon Pool is actually subsidizing other parts of Ridgewood’s budget.
https://archive.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-announces-2-1m-settlement-in-lawsuit-over-boy-s-drowning-1.1282318
The jury initially announced a $10 million award. What did we pay the lawyers for fighting this case for year? How much does insurance cost?
How much do capital investments cost?
The ‘math’ present here is just like the ‘math’ typical government entities and unions show to make themselves appear ‘profitable.’ The same kind of ‘math’ that lets state governments claim that they are ‘balancing’ their budget each year – only count operating costs and revenues and imagine capital costs and liabilities are non-existent.
Village services do not need to make money. Does the stable make money?
How about the library?
Insurance is the big number not on here. How much lower would the village’s insurance premium be without a pool.
On the flip side, if the summer camp makes money that should be in the plus column because without the pool there would be no summer camp….
Can we sell the “horse farm” and Schindler?
And how about selling Glen School since it will never be a school? The RED program can be moved to an existing school, like Orchard.
The pool absolutely makes money. No other park in Ridgewood makes money. All parks have expenses – lawn care, fence repairs, leaf removal and what not. But only Gradyon makes money.
Grayson is not always profitable. It is cyclical from generation to generation.
Smart fiscal planning would allow ‘profits’ to be saved for lean years.
Graydon makes campers buy a membership. This is the ONLY way to stay above water.
Graydon always makes money, some years more than others. But typically the profits do not go back into improving and maintaining Graydon. Profits should be folded right back in to the budget for the pool.