At its January board meeting held Thursday, Jan. 26, the Bella Vista Property Owners Association heard a preliminary year-end financial report. Chief Operating Officer Tom Judson explained that the report is preliminary because the auditors have not yet approved it. Outside auditors examine the reports every year.
The report was presented by POA Treasurer Beth Nagel, who began with the combined report, the POA and the POA-owned water utility. She pointed out that those numbers exceeded budget for revenue, gross profit and EBITA by over a million dollars.
Four areas did especially well she said. Those included Water, Food and Beverage, Recreation and Golf Revenue.
Looking at water separately, revenue and profit were high, but so were expenses. A water bond was completely paid off in 2022 and the inter-company loan that helped pay for the expenses of the Trafalgar Road fire has been partially paid down.
"The Gear Garden had a great year," she said while discussing POA numbers. Lakepoint, BV Grill and Highlands also did well, she said. The pro shops also came in above budget although they struggled with supply issues.
She said more members are buying annual green fees and non-member golf fees are going up.
The new tiny cabins at Blowing Springs Park have also done well, she said.
The financial reports can be found on the POA website bellavistapoa.com/governance/.
JB Portillo, the chair of the Rules and Regulations Committee, explained why there have been so many policy changes recently.
"All of these that we went though really fast were just mostly correcting names and titles and getting things back the way for consistency's sake," she said. "We didn't just race through these. They were thought out."
Five policies had already passed a first reading and were approved a second time to become official. Another 11 passed as a first reading and will be taken up again in February. All the policy changes are posted on the POA website, which is https://bellavistapoa.com/governance/governing-documents/.
The board also approved changes for three projects, all of which included paving and concrete and all came in well over the original budget. They include Blowing Springs Road paving, which was budgeted at $55,000.00 but came in at $80,116.01; Lake Rayburn dam road paving, budgeted at $35,000.00 but cost $47,773.04; and Metfield pickleball courts, budgeted at $70,000.00 but cost $104,246.68.