OPA held a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, providing association members an opportunity to comment or ask questions about the proposed $18 million or so budget for the next fiscal year. Except for an obviously organized group of disgruntled pickleballers attending, the clubhouse meeting room would have been virtually empty. Then again, pickleballers always seem disgruntled about something lately.

Pickleballers were there in force. They had major concerns about the budget. Those concerns were not related to reserves. Not to the amount of the assessment. Not even to the amount a non-member pays to drop in and play pickball. No. Their concerns were of a more serious financial nature.

Their outrage was over management proposing a 10% increase in the cost of pickleball memberships. This "10% increase" refrain kept echoing around the room. Other attendees were in shock to hear about such a dramatic increase. What was management thinking? Didn't management realize pickleballers represent the financial engine behind OPA's Racquet Sports amenity?

Finally, the question was asked. How many dollars of an increase are we talking about? It had to be substantial, given the obvious outrage of the pickleballers. Turns out a yearly membership is increasing by about $20 for an individual, and perhaps $30 or so for some other membership categories. Twenty Dollars. Yes. Twenty Dollars a YEAR. FORTY CENTS a week.

Given the enormity of the increase, even the few non-pickleballers in the room gasped in astonishment.

Sarcasm aside, pickleballers at the meeting certainly made themselves look like a bunch of whiners. Remember the "court flap" a few months back when the facility manager walked off the job and bad-mouthed OPA management? Hundreds of pickballers emailed the board, demanding OPA give the manager whatever he wanted to get him back. He was special. OPA could not survive without the man.

OPA General Manager John Viola, recognizing the grief these pickleballers were experiencing, gave the fellow what he wanted -- even giving him a newly created position of Racquet Sports Director. Well, a week or so ago, the fellow quit again and took a job with Ocean City. All the gory details are in the recent edition of the Ocean Pines Progress.

During the discussion on Wednesday, Viola pointed out that OPA spent over $500,000 on upgrades and maintenance on the racquet sports complex in the last couple of years. Some of that money was to build a fence around the pickleball court area to keep freeloading pickleballers from playing without paying. The fence is not high enough.

Comments were made suggesting tennis requires more maintenance, but a tennis membership is around $100 more a year than a pickleball membership. Also, let's not forget, pickleballers also get to play in the gym during the winter as part of their membership.

One gentleman complained about cracks in the pickleball courts, suggesting OPA should be more careful when contracting out the work. It seems the cracks in question may be on macadam courts that were installed perhaps 40 years ago for tennis when the tennis operation was moved from the Yacht Club area to the Manklin Meadows facility.

Oh, yes. In the works is a remodeling project on the racquet sports clubhouse. Another $200,000 or so?

If pickleballers are so concerned about percentage when it comes to an increase in membership fees, they should also be aware the over $1 million spent on that racquet sports amenity over the last four to five years was contributed by the 95% or more of association members who never set foot on a court.

Pickleballers should just pay the new fees and stop all this public whining. The OPA Board of Directors should eliminate all the various fees related to racquet sports memberships, and institute a single combination racquet sports membership fee that allows members to play pickball, tennis, or platform tennis. Accounting savings alone would probably pay for a new court and maybe end the intra-sport dog fights.

Every business amenity in Ocean Pines should be managed to produce maximum financial benefit for all association members. Pickleball and other racquet sports are no exception.