PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE | DAVID WILKS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David E. Wilks - President Adam G. Landis - Vice President David D. Wilkinson - Treasurer Thomas A. Beck - Secretary
Many thanks to all of you who have sent me an email, given me a call, met me for coffee or otherwise shared your ideas and questions over the last year. It has been great to get to know you -- and our Club -- much better. Several themes have been common to my discussions. Therefore, this month we will publish the text of an interview I recently gave (to myself) that addresses the questions, myths and rumors that I hear the most. If the interviewer neglected to ask something you want to know, feel free to email me at dwilks.wcc@gmail.com.
Q:
Our dues went up by 13% this year. What’s that about?
CLASS OF 2024 David E. Wilks Rachel W. Heinle Douglas D. Herrmann Jennifer J. Hopkins Adam G. Landis Jonathan N. Saunders Pamela S. Tikellis David D. Wilkinson James R. Selsor, Jr. CLASS OF 2025 Thomas A. Beck Zachary L. Chipman Robert W. Friz Lisa A. Schmidt Meghan A. Adams Stephen J. Crifasi, Jr. Andrew J. Podolsky Becky Allen George “Tripp” Way, III Honorary Directors Gary W. Ferguson Melissa Riegel Advisory Directors Joseph F. Hacker, III Allen M. Terrell, Jr. John F. Porter, III
A: We’ve covered this pretty extensively, but many folks still have questions. The cost of everything -- especially personnel expense -- has risen sharply and we needed to get our dues more in line with the realities of our economics. We have accomplished that. Yes, our dues did go up by 13% and yet the Club is still a fantastic value. When compared to our peer clubs around the country and in our region, the cost of belonging to Wilmington Country Club is 30-40% below market. And compared to the clubs in our community, our dues are very much in line, even though our asset base and breadth of amenities are far greater than every other club in town. Q: Hang on a second. It isn’t fair to compare us with clubs in larger and more expensive metropolitan areas. A. Isn’t it? Let’s break down the three components of how we pay for things. Our new dues structure separates operating dues from capital dues. Our operating dues are dictated by the budget for what it costs to run the Club. That number is whatever that number is and we have to pay it. We don’t look to turn a profit; in fact, we better not make a profit. Our new line item for capital dues is dictated by how much it costs to fund depreciation. That number is whatever that number is and we have to pay it. Segregating that portion of our dues ensures that we will not have deferred maintenance problems. So as you can see, this is not a question of whether we should be cheaper than clubs in bigger cities. It is a matter of paying what things cost. I doubt very much that a new HVAC system, for example, is meaningfully cheaper in Wilmington than it is in Philadelphia or Tulsa or Atlanta. And the equipment, chemicals and other supplies that we need for our golf courses cost the same here as everywhere else. We have to plan for and then pay for all that stuff. Our third source of funds is the stock price paid by new members. Unless we have evidence that we have priced ourselves out of the market, I’m not sure why existing members would want that number to be lower. But the evidence has not shown that at all and we are still well below market compared to clubs that are just a short drive away that have far less to offer.
Q: Wouldn’t we pay less in dues if we cut back on our expenses? A:
Of course. There are lots of things we can do to reduce our expenses…and all of them would diminish our experience and that of our guests. If we were to cut costs, which hard choices would we make? Which dining option should we eliminate? How much slower should we make the greens? How many tennis courts should we close down? How many members of our staff (and the services they provide to us) should we do without? You get the point. We are not going to do any of those things. Ever.
Q:
Don’t we need a lot new members?
A: Not everyone wants more members. Some folks love to be able to walk right onto the first tee whenever they want. Or know that a tennis court is always available. Or get a table without ever calling ahead. There is another club in our community that cannot offer that luxury and some fear that we will start to feel crowded if we add a bunch of new members. Leadership’s view is that we have capacity for some new members but not a lot. Our finances are just fine as you know. But more members would help meet those operational and capital budgets I mentioned. Every year, we lose around 20 members for various reasons and every year, we pick up about 21 or 22 new members. In my view, it would be great to add five or six more new members per year on top of the usual number. At that level, the Club would not feel too crowded. It would be a big mistake, however, to open the floodgates by making membership cheap and easy for people, which would give us a whole different set of new problems.
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker