August always comes and goes in a bittersweet way. Teens leave for college and back-to-school routines begin again. Families savor these last precious weeks at the campground and our staff adjusts to the end of the season changes.

With this time of year also comes business decisions for the following season. From a seasonal campers' perspective, it means that sometime during the 2nd or 3rd week of August we send out a letter that includes the next year's rates and a reminder that deposits are due. This year we have an announcement to share about a decision from the Village of Volo that needs to come in advance of that letter. That announcement is below:

Recently the Village of Volo held a meeting of the Board of Trustees during which ORDINANCE NO. 0-22- 07: IMPOSING A CAMPSITE TAX was passed. This tax is being imposed on the rental, leasing, or licensing of a campsite at a campground in the Village (we are the only one). The motion carried with all Trustees in favor of it. A copy of the letter we received from the Village is on this link.

What does this mean?

Starting with the 2023 Season Invoices, your Fish Lake Beach site license fees will show a 5% CAMPSITE Tax. The tax collected by us will be paid to the Village of Volo.

Why did this happen?

As of this date we only have a basic understanding of the Campsite Tax; the amount, what will be taxed, and the general purpose of the tax. A Campsite Tax is likened to a lodging tax you pay at a hotel.

Del and YC were founding members of the Village of Volo board; he served 8 years as a trustee and YC, 16. We understand and respect the challenges faced by the board members, but were completely blindsided by this tax. To be clear, the Campsite Tax was proposed and carried out with no input from or collaboration with Fish Lake Beach.

What is Fish Lake Beach going to do about it?

We were notified in by letter at the end of June that the Campsite Tax was proposed and passed. We then had an informal meeting with Mayor Steve Henley to express our concerns about the impact the tax will have on our customers and Fish Lake Beach as a business.

His suggestion was to share our concerns in a letter to the Trustees. We did that and hired an attorney to help us respond in some meaningful way. We haven’t received any responses as of this date. We will go before the board of trustees to make an appeal for collaboration or modification of the tax at the next Village meeting. In the end, Volo has “Home Rule” which allows any tax to be created if the Village will benefit from the tax.

Every August we work to establish a modest and appropriate increase for the next season. Generally speaking, our seasonal campers understand and accept this fact and see the improvements that coincide with the increase.

With the escalating inflation our operating expenses have greatly increased . We did not expect this in 2022 operating costs and unfortunately, we have no reason to anticipate this trend not to continue. We also are aware that our seasonal campers will have a larger than usual increase because of this new Volo tax. We are sorry and truly wish we had an easier solution to this all at once increase by Volo. Therefore, in light of all of this, in 2023 we will: 

·Continue to give a special discount to seasonal campers who have been with us 25+ years.

·Continue to offer a discount for early payment in full by February 1, 2023.

·Continue to allow seasonal campers to make installment payments of the site fees for 2023 starting with the $500 deposit due by October 1st. We have allowed pre-season installments to help campers budget for their home away from home and will continue to allow it for the foreseeable future. Payment in full is required by April 15th, 2023. 

· A flat rate increase of $75.00 for every tier.

Individual invoices for season 2023 will be emailed to each seasonal camper. Please anticipate these by Friday, September 2nd.

Rest assured, we will continue to do whatever is financially prudent for Fish Lake Beach to continue as your happy place. We sincerely appreciate your patronage and support.

If you have questions, please contact us at 847 546 2228 or by email at camping@fishlakebeach.com

Thank You

YC, Randy, Desiree & Christi