VOL. 34 NO. 12
The Villages at Country Creek, Estero, FL • www.seabreezecommunications.com
DECEMBER 2023
Treasurer’s Report – December 2023 Villager By Pat Vavrek First, I want to thank the following for working on the 2024 budget–our general manager Sharon, Golf Pro John, Food & Beverage Manager Debra, finance committee members Dana, Tom, Mike, Gary & Scott. After several meetings, some revisions, more revisions and multiple emails, the board was presented with the 2024 proposed budget. The bottom line is quarterly dues will increase by $101 for 2024, this is a 10% increase compared to 2023 dues. Some highlights to this increase are: • Administrative Expenses that have notable increases include the Hotwire contract & property insurance. • Your GM was able to provide employee health insurance at a much lower cost for 2023/2024. The health insurance policy renews in October each year. • Electric across the board has increased, along with effluent water.
• Golf expenses with notable increases include the Troon Maintenance Contract and golf course maintenance equipment leases. • For golf, John has estimated 30,000 member rounds of golf with no public play during season. • Non-resident golf memberships are capped at 65. • In the Food & Beverage area, the cost of food has increased substantially. Payroll will also increase as the budgeted amount includes overtime along with increases due to the minimum wage increase across the state. • Overall, expenses are increased by 13% while revenues are increased by 17% • There is a lot of talk about the golf course and restaurant deficits. The golf course and the restaurant are community amenities. • The annual contribution per household for the golf course deficit is $274 per household.
CCMGA News By Don Polulak Hard to believe December is here already. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Good to see many of our returning members and nice to meet new ones. Currently we have 102 members, 10 of them being new. Our 1st event of the season, (Ravis Prueitt Tournament) is still in progress as of this writing. On November 17 we had our CCMGA 4 man golf scramble, meeting and luncheon. We could not have asked for a better day, the weather was perfect and everyone seemed to have a good time. It was especially a good day for Greg Giovannetti who had a Hole in One on hole #6, which also happened to be the closest to the pin hole. Congratulations to Greg! The winning team of the scramble was: Darko Vukojevic, Jack Spaulding, Bob Ver Wey and Dave Goebel. Congratulations to you all. As a reminder, on Fridays we would like to see our members wear a red shirt for league play. It is a tradition that was started many years ago to honor our veterans (past and present). If you would like to purchase a VCC red golf shirt, stop by the pro shop and speak to John Alfuth. Now that we are approaching the busy part of our golf season, the men’s league would like From left to right. Darko to remind members that Vukojevic, Jack Spaulding, they should recognize that Bob Ver Wey and Dave Goebel. Villages at Country Creek
• The annual funding for the F&B deficit is $529 per household for 2024. • 2024 recommended funding for reserves is $650,000. Finally, the finance committee made a recommendation to the board to pass the 2024 proposed budget. The 2024 budget was unanimously approved by the board at the November 16, 2023 meeting.
From The Golf Pro 2023-24 Villages At Country Creek Upcoming Golf Event By John Alfuth, PGA
From left to right. Ray Atherholt, Greg Giovannetti, Dan Chelenza, Guy Gibson, Joe Fox, Don Polulak and Tony Lamia. Not Pictured: Roy Bauer and Dave Amatangelo. their pace of play affects others and they should play promptly throughout the round. We would like to thank the volunteers for another fine job of fixing the roof on the #9 halfway house. FYI, there will not be any food service at the halfway house this season. Lee County will not allow it. Board Members for 2023 & 2024 Season President: Dan Chelenza Membership: Greg Giovannetti Vice President: Don Polulak Social Director: Guy Gibson Secretary: Joe Fox Play Chairman: Tony Lamia Treasurer: Roy Bauer Rules: Dave Amatangelo Past President: Willis Drew Liaison to Golf Committee: Ray Atherholt Here are a couple of important dates to mark on your calendar: December 15: CCMGA golf, luncheon and meeting. January 12: CCMGA Member/Member golf, luncheon and meeting. On behalf of the CCMGA Board, we wish you all a Merry Christmas! PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FT MYERS FL PERMIT 751
Greg Giovannetti. Hole in one! Hole #6.
December 2023 12 – LGA Red & Green Luncheon 15 – MGA Luncheon January 2024 1 – Bloody Mary Open 9 – LGA Luncheon 12 – MGA Member/Member 13 – Ryder/Solar Cup Tryouts Day 1 14 – Ryder/Solar Cup Tryouts Day 2 16 – Solar Cup Tryouts Day 3 17 – Ryder Cup Tryouts Day 3 20 – Ryder/Solar Cup Tryouts Day 4 25 – LGA/MGA Invitational February 2024 2 – MGA Elmer Rawson Match Play Begins 3 – HOA 1 Scramble 8 – LGA Guest Day 15 – LGA Charity Event 16 – MGA Luncheon 23 – Pairings Meeting 24 – Ryder/Solar Cup Day 1 25 – Ryder/Solar Cup Day 2 March 2024 2 – Ryder/Solar Cup Day 3 5 & 7 – LGA Championship 6 & 8 – MGA Championship 9 – Villas Scramble 16 – Volunteers Scramble All Day 23 – Club Championship Round 1 24 – Club Championship Round 2 26 – LGA Winter Awards April 2024 4 – Men’s Invitational Practice Round & Dinner 5 – Men’s Invitational Round 1 & 2 6 – Men’s Invitational Round 3, 4 & Shootout 11 – LGA Member/Member 12 – MGA Luncheon 13 – MGA Gala Dinner