Our Board has devoted a considerable amount of time and effort over the past year or so to reflecting on our past and planning for our future. After considerable research into our membership trends over the years and reviewing policies of a number of clubs similar to ours, we have reached consensus on several changes we believe are appropriate as we begin our second fifty years as a Club.
We believe our programs need to be focused on ensuring that membership in PPYC provides value commensurate with our fees. To that end, we should 1) put more emphasis on attracting new members who are avid sailors and desire the kinds of benefits we provide, 2) provide educational opportunities through a curriculum approach, 3) provide opportunities for members to sail even if they do not own a boat, and 4) provide an environment conducive to development of friendships with fellow sailors. Although 2020 was an aberrant year because of the pandemic, we believe our current programs have been providing meaningful benefits in these areas. For example: our PPYCU and LATH programs offer excellent educational opportunities; Wednesday Afternoon and Sunday Afternoon Races, in conjunction with the Skipper/Crew Matchup feature on our web site, offer opportunities for members and prospective members who don’t own boats to sail; and we offer a number of significant social events during our main season each year.
In order to continue successfully providing these and other programs we may consider offering in future years — and to keep our focus on providing value commensurate with our fees — we believe a modest change in practice is a reasonable way to generate some additional revenue without an increase in our base membership fee at a time when many of our members may have been hit with pandemic-related extra costs. That practice is to begin adding sales taxes to the amount due from members and non-members for all fees, effective 6/1/21. Heretofore, the Club has absorbed these costs, a practice that is actually very uncommon among yacht clubs, including local ones. In addition to making our billing practices more consistent with other yacht clubs, having members pay sales taxes on club charges seems logical since doing so would be consistent with payment of almost all other products bought and services received by our members.
We sincerely appreciate your membership in PPYC and the contributions you make to our success in so many ways each year through volunteer service.
Your Board Of Directors
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