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CLARIFICATION OF THE STATUS OF CLUB TIMBERVIEW
Even though Club Timberview has made no public comment, rumors are running rampant as to the status of the Club. Especially interesting is the comments being placed on www.trailconditions.com. We understand that bad news travels at the speed of light and good news moves along at a snails crawl. To enlighten some of the gossipers, these are the FACTS:
Club Timberview was formed in the spring of 1997 in order to take over some of the burden faced by the clubs in the area. Their groomer barns were many miles from the Tabolt's corners area and John DeGuardia, owner of Timberview Lodge, thought that if he started a club in this area it would work to the betterment of the snowmobiler's and the clubs. No snowmobiler will disagree that since that time the trail conditions in that area have gotten much better then they were previous to the 1998 winter. But, its obvious by the comments on trailconditions.com that many of you don’t know the first thing about how this club is run. First of all, state trail maintenance funding only covers a small portion of the cost of running a club. Recently it has even gotten worse. Last season trail funding from the state was cut in half under the premise that the Club’s insurance would be free. Yes the State covered the cost of the liability insurance, but by doing so decreased our funding by 50%. This amounted to three times what it had cost to insure on our own. This however was not the States fault since the cost of insurance has exploded in the last couple years most notably due to the amount of frivolous lawsuits started by reckless snowmobiler’s wanting someone else to pay for there careless driving habits. Just for the record, Club Timberview has been sued 4 times since 1998 and has never lost a case. This however has cost the insurance company thousands in litigation cost because we refuse to pay money to these money hungry individuals. It seems that since we have very smooth trails, which is what the snowmobiling community has said they wanted, some people think of it as their private racetrack. Then when they get hurt, they sue us. This is VERY WRONG. Other financial requirements that a club faces are insurance for their equipment, groomers, etc. In addition they have to build bridges, place and replace culverts, purchase signs (that many sledders don’t read) work out landowner agreements, handle complaints from trespass, clear trails after a wind or ice storm, run fund raisers and deal with the government. By the way, they don’t get paid for any of it. It has been proposed to pay these individuals, but the money just isn’t there.
Some might say that Timberview makes money from snowmobilers. That is absolutely right and that’s why they do all that they do. But did you know that a large number of businesses do nothing. Then there are some that do a little and then there is a very few that do as much as Timberview. In regards to where the money comes from about 20% comes from the state. 30% comes from neighboring businesses and the remaining 50% comes from Timberview. So not only does Timberview provide all the manpower but also half the money. Timberview and the business supporters all get to sell maps, memberships and raffle tickets to help offset these cost, but on average Timberview itself must make up any shortfalls in fund raising from its business operations in the amount of $20,000 to $30,000 each season. This spring, after facing two bad business winters in a row, Timberview was not in a position to come up with the $19,000 shortfall that the Club was facing. The Club then voluntarily agreed to send its groomer back to the manufacturer in settlement of its outstanding debt to them. Besides the poor winters, decreased state funding and increased insurance cost, the club was also faced with the total elimination of funding from the County and one business that will remain unnamed.
So what is the plan for the future? The club has maintained its good standing with the state. All paperwork is in order and all landowner’s agreements are in place. Summer maintenance has been completed and the Club is waiting to hear from the State as to what the trail funding will be for this season. As many of you know there was a sizable increase in the registration fee for snowmoblies. What you may not know is that DMV will be getting double what they had been getting, there is a new trail inspection program that will need to be funded through Parks & Recreation and finally that in the southern portion of the state over 1000 miles of newly funded trails have been added. What does this mean? It means that the Clubs will be getting more money then they had in the past but a good portion of that registration increase will not make it to the clubs. If the funding is there and the club can swing it, we will be buying another groomer. If not we will try and get neighboring clubs to take up some of the slack.
What is really upsetting to us, is that we tried to go above and beyond what is required of any business on Tug Hill and all we get is bad mouthed. Maybe the fault should lie with the 94% of all snowmobilers that ride the Tug Hill area that do not join any club. That’s right, only 6% of all snowmobilers bother to support the voluntary efforts of the snowmobile clubs. Think about it.
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