Falmouth EDIC In Good Financial Standing As Fiscal Year Comes To A Close
The EDIC is in good financial standing as the end of its fiscal year approaches next month and is looking to solidify its budget for 2022.
Income payments from the solar fields in town and the Plymouth and Brockton bus line, which lease part of Falmouth Station, have put the EDIC in a comfortable position financially, with a strong cash balance of $373,000, as reported by treasurer Kevin Holmes.
“I would say that utilizing and optimizing the income of the station will be helpful,” Mr. Holmes said. “I would say that we are still having a slight burn on cash, so that is something that we’re going to need to be mindful of going forward.”
In outlining the drafted budget for 2022, executive director Wayne Lingafelter walked the board through some of the key aspects. This was their first pass at drafting their budget for the next fiscal year.
Mr. Lingafelter said that the organization is about $10,000 to $15,000 ahead of budget expenses, which is on par with its bottom line of implementing significant capital renovations and repairs to the Falmouth Station for 2022. Previously, as a result of COVID, the EDIC had reduced expenses to the station, but is looking to pick up where they left off before the pandemic.
“Before we get into repairs and maintenance at the station, we now are at an above break-even point for the station,” Mr. Lingafelter said. “We actually make about $28,000 before we do our repair and maintenance at the station. This budget includes $42,000 in that category for repair and renovation, so as a result of that we go $13,000 negative, assuming that you were to approve all of the monies in the budget.”
He added that this budget does assume that the EDIC renews its lease with the bus line currently operating out of Falmouth Station. The current lease is one year long, began in August 2021, and stipulates that the bus line pay 50 percent rent for the first six months, and full rent for the remainder of their lease.
Total income in the 2022 budget draft is $127,000 higher than in 2021, Mr. Lingafelter said, which is largely thanks to the income from Phase II of Falmouth’s solar array and the Plymouth and Brockton bus line’s lease. Correspondingly, expenses are roughly $118,000 higher in the 2022 budget draft.
“What’s interesting here is you can see the driver to the budget is the net income from solar,” Mr. Lingafelter said. “That income from Solar I and II is $125,000. That’s a very significant contributor to the bottom line for the overall EDIC budget.”
The board has also allocated money in its 2022 budget for legal expenses and a potential board retreat, which would likely occur after the board has finished recruiting members for its two vacancies. Monetary allocations were also set aside so that updates and improvements can be made to the board’s website. Board members also discussed the possibility of seeking out additional grants to help pay for the repairs expenses to the Falmouth Station, at the suggestion of member Samuel Patterson. It is something the board has not quite looked into yet but would be open to exploring in the future, if possible.
The board did not vote on the budget, and the conversation is expected to continue at its next meeting on December 14. Mr. Lingafelter said that he feels as though the board is in pretty good shape right now, considering this is its first pass at nailing down the next year’s budget.