Fisher Island Club tells members: Without federal loan, we may need to lay off staff
The Fisher Island Club, where memberships cost $250,000, is asking its members on the ritzy island near Miami to vote on whether they would prefer for the club to accept a federal small business loan or to assess each member an additional $5,000 this year.
In an email Monday, the club gave members until Wednesday at 5 p.m. to cast their vote, presenting it as a choice between potentially laying off club employees and having members pay more money.
“Given our desire to keep our valued employees on the payroll, we are asking for each Member’s straw vote on this issue,” the email said.
In order to “cover the losses resulting from keeping the Club’s employees on our payroll with benefits and keeping their families safe and fed,” the email continued, “please anonymously vote for one of the following: 1. Accept PPP loan proceeds, or 2. Assess each Club Equity Member approximately $5,000 this year.”
“If accepted, loan proceeds will be used to fund the payroll and benefit costs for its employees whose livelihoods depend on this income,” the club said.
The club has applied for the Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government but has not yet been approved, according to the email.
The Fisher Island Club is a separate entity from the Fisher Island Community Association, which is the master homeowners’ association on the island. The Fisher Island Community Association recently asked its members to vote on whether to accept a $2 million small business loan and ultimately decided to reject the funds.
In its email Monday, the club suggested it was in a much different financial position than the homeowners’ association. The club receives about half its revenue from dues, the email said, but is projected to lose “many, many millions in revenue” after closing its hotel, restaurants, marina, golf, tennis and spa facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If we keep all employees on payroll (as is our desire), the Club will have a projected deficit, which will require an assessment of approximately $5,000 per Equity Member for the 2020 fiscal year,” the email said.
Club representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ultimatum appeared to upset at least some club members. In an email to the board of the Fisher Island Club on Tuesday, Thomas Lauria expressed his frustration.
“The decision of the Club Board to secretly pursue US Government PPP financing without any advance disclosure to or input from its members is NOT HELPFUL,” Lauria wrote, according to the email obtained by the Miami Herald.
Average annual income among the island’s residents was $2.5 million in 2015 — the highest of any ZIP code in America, according to Bloomberg.
Lauria, a corporate lawyer who is also a member of the island’s homeowners’ association board, lobbied for the association to reject the loan and told the Herald he was “stunned” when he learned the club had also applied.
“That we would even consider taking a government loan out of a program that is designed to really help small businesses on the verge of going out of business — every dollar we take is a dollar somebody else can’t get,” he said, adding that he would willingly pay out of pocket to ensure that island workers keep their jobs.
“I would not turn them out, and I know my friends and other people I know here would not turn them out,” Lauria said.
The island made international headlines earlier this month after the Herald reported it had worked out a deal with the University of Miami Health System to make rapid blood tests for COVID-19 antibodies available to the 800 or so families that live there, and to all the workers who maintain the property and patrol its streets. The news sparked frustration from some as the availability of testing for the novel coronavirus, including antibody tests, remains limited nationwide.
The island purchased 1,800 tests at $17 each — for a total of $30,600 — which were administered by doctors from a UHealth clinic stationed on the island. The cost came out of the island’s annual operating budget, a spokeswoman said.
The antibody tests are valuable in plotting the spread of COVID-19 and helping health experts determine who has already fought it off. UHealth officials have not yet revealed the results of testing on Fisher Island.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 6:22 PM.