Clubhouse budget inches toward black ink

Management touts small rises in income

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011

Despite a controversial history, the Capital Clubhouse recreation center has begun to take steps in the right direction on its bottom line.

On Tuesday, the newly seated Charles County board of commissioners was introduced to the 90,000-square-foot facility in Waldorf and learned that for the last three years there has been an increase in net income.

According to figures provided by Rink Management Services, the Mechanicsville, Va., management company that took over operations in July 2008, the clubhouse saw an improvement of more than $50,000 from the fiscal 2010 net income for the last six months of 2010, the first half of fiscal 2011.

The fiscal 2010 net income was close to $40,000 more than fiscal 2009. The latter fiscal year saw an increase of more than $222,000 compared to fiscal 2008.

What that net income is, however, remains a mystery.

The unknown variable will remain that way until Rink Management releases numbers; because the facility is managed by a third party the county does not have a specific budget line item for the clubhouse.

"I'm excited to report the clubhouse has made some improvements," Rink Management Controller Jennifer André said. "We're very proud of the financial results. The results for your facility are strong compared to other [rinks] around the nation."

Rink Management oversees about 30 facilities nationwide.

André said she did not know the revenues and expenditures offhand. As of press time no numbers had been given; however, county documents show that there is roughly $5.8 million left toward paying back the 2007 bond issue worth $6.8 million.

According to earlier stories published in the Maryland Independent, the clubhouse has spent much of its life in the red.

In December 2009, the former board of commissioners approved a fiscal 2010 budget amendment that made a one-time transfer of $546,400 from the county's Recreation Enterprise Fund to cover the clubhouse's deficit.

The clubhouse lost $528,000 in fiscal 2007.

In May 2006, the county purchased the facility from Sports Center at Market Place, a combination of four local investors who built the clubhouse, for $8.2 million.

Since the clubhouse's opening in early 2005 the county has pitched in financial support to help cover construction and operating debts.

When the county purchased the facility outright, the plan had been for the clubhouse to be self-supporting. Within two years that vision had not been realized and Rink Management stepped in to help with operations. The county and management company entered into a one-year agreement at a cost of $72,000. There are four one-year renewal options and the agreement was extended in both 2009 and 2010.

Commissioners' President Candice Quinn Kelly (D) was a board member when the commissioners took the reins of the facility. While Kelly said that lengthy debates could be held about that decision, the president said that "outsourcing was a very smart idea."

"It's really making it possible to retain and maintain this wonderful county amenity," Kelly said after the presentation. "[More than $50,000] is the net realized after all the expenses are paid. That $50,000 goes back to us to lower the debt service."

The clubhouse serves a number of purposes for the county, Kelly said, including acting as a community asset, hosting "wonderful" programs and helping the commissioners meet their responsibility to offer amenities for residents.

According to a marketing presentation from Rink Management, the Capital Clubhouse has about 300,000 visitors annually. Of those visits are some 40,000 participants in one of the dozens of activities available at the facility — recreational sports leagues, classes and the like. Another 70,000 spectators came to the facility.

While the clubhouse is known by many as "the ice rink," the facility offers a range of recreational activities: volleyball, dodgeball, baseball, soccer, rock climbing, a World Gym workout center, ice hockey and figure skating.

Rink Management President Thomas Hillgrove said the organization always is thinking outside of the box when it comes to partnership strategies. The Capital Clubhouse has offered discount coupons for local hotel guests, collaborated with Charles County Public Schools special needs students and partnered with businesses to host various conventions that drew hundreds of vendors and visitors.

"I hear over and over there is a need for things for parents and children to do together. This is not just an ice rink, it's a multisports center with family entertainment," Kelly said.

"We've really worked hard on the dry floor side," Hillgrove said in reference to activities off the ice. "We can do more. There is more to be done; we've really tried to make this a facility everyone can use."

André produced figures that show the clubhouse's public skating participant numbers have increased by 12 percent; adult hockey went up 27 percent; learn to skate courses rose by 30 percent; and large rental packages for both the ice rink and dry floor rose by 10 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Commissioners' Vice President Reuben B. Collins II (D) said that while the clubhouse does pose a challenge in terms of revenue, "I can tell you, you see the reflection of the entire community at the Capital Clubhouse."

Collins hosts regular monthly community forums in one of the clubhouse's meeting rooms.

"It's impressive to see an actual ascension," Collins said of the net income. "There is a lot of potential revenue as a community center."

Asked by Commissioner Ken Robinson (D) what management thought about changing the clubhouse's name, André said it "wouldn't be opposed to consider other names."

"In an ideal world we would try to get a name sponsor and along with the name try to get ‘sportsplex' behind it," Rink Management Marketing Director Jim Littlejohn said.

msomers@somdnews.com