Oneota Co-op Board "learning session" focuses on finances

The Oneota Community Coop's Board of Directors has completed a "learning session" aimed at helping them get acquainted and updated about the long term finances of the organization.

General Manager David Lester led the session on Tuesday night. Lester shared the various debt commitments of the organization that involve about $19,000 in payments each month, or about 6.2 percent of gross sales. The good news is that those payments will be significantly reduced by early in 2015, resulting in a significantly improved cash flow.

Earlier this year at their annual meeting Lester reported that this was the first positive net income year since the coop moved into their new Water Street location.

The board also began discussion of the payback of member loans which begin coming due in a couple years, as well as raising the question of member "patronage dividends" since the Coop is progressing financially to a point where that may be possible.

Lester also shared that summer sales are typically down due to a reduced student population, families on vacation, and the availability of local produce elsewhere. While concern was expressed regarding rising food costs, Lester said that the Coop's strengths of bulk commodity sales and local products have helped offset some of the cost issues related to packaging and transportation costs. Lester noted upcoming big ticket items this year that include $45,000 for roofing and $21,000 for the HVAC system.