INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev.— The Incline Village General Improvement District Board of Trustees gathered for a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 to discuss the third budget workshop along with changes in golf rates. 

The meeting kicked off with with the approval of an agreement with Thorndal, Armstrong of legal services related to the Beach Deed and IVGID Beaches in the amount of $50,000, which passed unanimously. 

There was a large amount of people who spoke during public comment on the changes in golf rates that were proposed to the board, with many questioning why the locals and golf clubs were being targeted with raising prices without looking into other ways to save revenues for the district.

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There were many changes that were suggested by staff to the board to consider, including revising the Golf Play Class structure to eliminate adult picture pass holders (PPH) All You Can Play and couple passes and instead replacing it with 10, 20, 30, or 40 play passes. 

Other changes discussed included revising PPH daily rates to be 50% of the Non-PPH daily rates, along with increasing Daily Green Fees anywhere between 5%-11% of what the rates currently are. 

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Director of Finance Paul Navazio and Director of Community Services Darren Howard were able to give supporting information to the board to answer their many questions about the financials presented that evening. 

Trustee Sara Schmitz along with the rest of the board questioned the reports provided that outlined revenues as well as costs at the course, and wondered if there was a better way to present the information in order to make a well-informed decision as to what would change at the courses. 

“My feeling is we have to go back to incorporate the additional expenses and better digest..how did we get to this sort of situation where even though we have fifty percent of our users paying a higher rate, that we didn’t even cover our operational costs,” said Trustee Schmitz. “Before we start talking about rates going forward, we need to understand better where we are, where our challenges are, and what are our options and our choices and our opportunities to make changes to go forward before we just start talking about changing golf per round rates.” 

Following the discussion, Trustee Schmitz agreed to work with Howard to assist in refining the supporting financial material, with the possibility of a special meeting to be held regarding golf rates. 

“We have to understand our financials,” said Trustee Schmitz. “We have to understand our financials before we make decisions to go forwards. Given the data that we’ve had tonight, we can see there’s a considerable amount of confusion.”

The board then moved into detailed conversation for the third budget workshop of the year, where staff looked for direction on multiple board priority projects, including the Incline Beach House, beach access improvement, recreation center improvements, and the community dog park among others. 

There was also presentations regarding the different preliminary budgets for venues and departments within the district, including the General Fund that encompasses accounting, human resources, information technology and parks, along with public works, community services, and beaches. 

The next steps for the budget will be to present the tentative version of it to the board on Wednesday, April 12 before it is presented to the State of Nevada on Saturday, April 15. 

The formal adoption of the budget by the district is scheduled for Friday, May 26. 

To view the entire meeting, visit http://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas.