Letter to Membership from the OLY Board of Directors –

We are pleased to advise you that registration is now open for the 08-09 short course season.  You will notice that, as anticipated, the increase in monthly fees introduced in the spring has been continued.  As a Board, we have worked diligently to keep fees as low as possible while still providing an opportunity for our swimmers to participate in one of the premier swim programs in the United States.   While we have attempted to maximize other income by hosting swim meets and encouraging participation in our other fundraising (grocery/scrip), we have been unable to keep up with increases in some of our biggest expenses – facility rental and swim meet entry fees.  Unfortunately, our pool costs have increased by 10% (starting in the 06-07 season), and meet entry fees have increased by 20%.  The balance of our expenses have remained fairly constant or have even been reduced slightly, and we continue to look for ways to make cuts where possible. 

During the budget process, we also reviewed the registration fees.  Registration payments are used primarily to cover the cost of annual registration with MI Swimming and meet entry fees (most other clubs require members to pay these costs directly).  While most of our registration fees were right on target to cover our expenditures in these areas, our Technique and Junior group fees were far below our actual costs.  We have therefore brought those fees in line with the actual expenditures we make on behalf of those Technique and Junior group swimmers. 

As a non-profit organization we must balance our budget, thus the need for fee increases.  However, our fees are still competitive with other clubs in the community. 

As always, we thank you for your support of OLY, and would like to encourage you to continue to volunteer at our meets, purchase grocery and scrip, and support the annual OLY golf outing.  Together we can provide a “world class” swim program, which will allow every athlete to develop to their highest level of swimming and personal achievement.

Signed,