I wanted to give everyone an update on the results from the survey regarding
the tennis courts (full results will be posted on the website this week).
There were a total of 63 responses and 83% choose option 1. Option 1 will
involve the complete tear-up and rebuilding of courts 3 and 4 at a cost of
$48K. During this process the club will lose the use of all of the courts
but in the end we will have 2 brand new courts as well as court #1 (which
was member repaired.) Court 2 will be playable however there are no plans
at this point to repair that court. I am not sure when the repairs will
begin because we have to have $30K as a down payment. We will then have
three years to pay the remaining $18K in quarterly installments (interest
free). I feel it is important that the club have at least one year of
payments set aside ($6K) before the work begins. Another part of survey was
about raising money from the members thru donations or fund raisers. Of the
63 families that filled out the survey, 84% stated they would be willing
contribute. Please look for an e-mail to come out in the near future
regarding ways to give to the capital fund (possibly thru pay-pal, check,
monthly contributions from your account directly into the club bank account,
etc...).
Now for the great news! As many of you know, the board spent this summer
trying to get the Club's taxes lowered. The first thing that needed to be
done was to have a correct assessment of the property value of the club so
that it appropriately matched the other clubs in the area. We were able to
accomplish this and we have seen our current tax bill drop from $7200 (past
years) to $1200 this year. The second part involved trying to get money
back from the County for the last three years of overpayments on the taxes.
We have heard that the County has agreed that the club was incorrectly taxed
and the County has stated that they are going to send us a check for the
back taxes. At this point, we do not know the total amount the County will
be giving back to the club (and until we have the money in the bank I will
continue to hold my breath) but this is a big win for the club!
Looking forward, as a worse case, the club will see a yearly savings of $6K
on taxes which can go toward future improvements. I wanted to personally
thank two members of the club who helped us a great deal with this process
(if you see them, buy them a beer or two) Alan Brunson and Matthew Gries.
Alan was able to get the process started by supplying all the upfront
research and Matthew was able to work with the County to get the changes in
place. Without their hard-work and willingness to help, these changes would
not have been so successful.
Thank you.
Again the full results of the survey will be posted on the website this
week.
Andy Todebush
Court Condition
Court 1 is closed for repairs. We are in the process of trying to patch it cost effectively using volunteer labor. So far the job is proceeding very slowly so there is no timeline on when the court will be playable again. We had intended to resurface courts 1 and 2 last year, but it has been delayed. Right now the club does not have the money to resurface the courts. However, resurfacing the courts is the number one priority of the club and we will reevaluate the situation when we know the membership numbers for this year.
Since courts 1 and 2 are in the worst condition please try use those courts for practice and leave courts 3 and 4 for league matches. That means team captains should schedule team practices on courts 1 and 2. However, if you are going to practice and courts 3 and 4 are the only ones available then you can go ahead and reserve them.
Tennis Lessons
There are no club sponsored tennis lessons or kid's programs at our club but there are a number of coaches who give individual and group lessons at our club or nearby:
If none of our existing teams fit your situation, please think about organizing your own team. You would be surprised how many other people might be interested if someone would just take the initiative. Often teamsgroups start out low key with a set of organized lessons led by one of the tennis pro's listed above. People have especially enjoyed Pam Ragsdale's combination lessonCalcutta sessions.
To Do List
There is a never ending list of things "to do" relating to PCSR tennis. Please feel free to offer your helpsuggestions towards addressing these items or (sigh) contact me to add items to the list.
Happy hitting and if you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns please let me know.
