Related Links
- Letter from Council Key 3
- How the Executive Board Reached Its Decision
- June 1, 2023 Program Launch Presentation About the Council’s Financial Situation
Will there stil be summer camp at Hidden Valley in 2024?
What were the key considerations in discontinuing summer camp at Hidden Valley?
Multiple factors led to this decision, including:
- For 2022 and 2023, the Council’s operating deficit was $455,664. Our camping operations accounted for $337,405 of that deficit. For 2023, 89.3% of our Council’s operating deficit ($153,483) came from camping operations.
- In 2012, our Council’s youth membership was 11,376. By 2023, that figure dropped to 5,455. With this decline in youth membership, the “market” of available Scouts to attend our summer camp programs is dramatically smaller. The current number of youth members is smaller than in either legacy council in 2008, and we have two camping facilities to support.
- Since 2010 (the inaugural year of the New Birth of Freedom Council post-merger) the number of units in our Council has declined from 428 in 2010 to 235 in 2023. 100 of those dropped units occurred between 2020 and 2022.
- As our youth membership declined, so did summer camp attendance. In 2010, summer camp attendance at Hidden Valley was 525 Scouts, peaked at 820 in 2018, and was 558 in 2023 (including Tiger Cub Camp). In 2010, summer camp attendance at Tuckahoe was 2,077, peaked at 2,629 in 2011, and was 1,108 last summer.
- The Council currently lacks adequate youth membership to support the attendance levels necessary to generate enough revenue to bring our camps to break even. Rebuilding our youth membership to pre-COVID levels will likely take many years.
- The projected summer camp attendance for 2024 reflects that the decline in attendance at both camps will continue.
- Scouts BSA troops travel out-of-council more frequently for summer camp these days, seeking variety and new experiences. Our council has 122 Scouts BSA troops (boy and girl troops) – only 33 in-council troops are currently signed up to attend either Hidden Valley or Tuckahoe.
- The expenses associated with running our summer camps are increasing. Inflation has impacted all costs, and hiring qualified summer camp staff has become much more costly.
Is Hidden Valley closing? Who decided to discontinue summer camp at Hidden Valley?
No. The Executive Board’s only decision is not to offer summer camp programs at Hidden Valley beginning in 2025.
After carefully reviewing a report from an ad hoc committee of experienced board leaders who studied the issues and developed recommendations for the Board’s consideration, the Board reached this decision at its meeting on April 16, 2024.
Were any other options considered besides discontinuing Scouts BSA summer camp at Hidden Valley?
Yes, the Ad Hoc Committee identified and considered all the following possibilities before reaching their recommendations:
- Closing and selling Tuckahoe.
- Closing and selling Hidden Valley (all or a portion)
- Closing and selling both camps.
- Explore putting one or both camps into conservation easements.
- Explore putting one or both camps into carbon credit programs.
- Closing Hidden Valley or Tuckahoe as a summer camp, operating the “closed” summer facility for year-round purposes only.
- Maintain the status quo at both camps, evaluating current programs and promotion efforts executed by senior management.
- Restructure the council to prioritize subsidizing camping operations – further staff reductions beyond the four full-time positions already eliminated since 2022.
- Develop new fundraising efforts targeting the financial costs of operating both current camps.
We've heard that the council's financial reports make Hidden Valley's financial results look worse than they should. Is that true?
We have not changed our accounting practices for camping since the merger in 2010, which allows easy comparison from one year to the next.
- Direct expenses only are charged to each camp. Camp rangers are expensed to their camp.
- The employee compensation costs for the Director of Camping and Camping Administrative Assistant are allocated 50-50 between Hidden Valley and Tuckahoe.
- No other full-time council employees (including accounting) are charged to our camps.
- Full-time camp employees are budgeted to cost $278,304 in 2024 (salaries, benefits, and taxes).
Our current situation is not an accounting exercise where it is worthwhile to rearrange where expenses are charged. Ultimately, the money to pay our camp-related expenses comes from the same bank account as all other council expenses.
Can units book facilities at Hidden Valley during the summer starting in 2025?
Camp Tuckahoe will be our council’s only long-term resident summer camp at that point. The Camping Committee has not yet made specific recommendations to the Board, but we anticipate that short-term (weekend) camping will likely be available. No summer camp facilities or amenities (e.g. the swimming pool, boating area) will be available.
Given the positive impact of summer camp experiences for our Scouts, we encourage all New Birth of Freedom Council units to attend the summer camp programs we offer at Camp Tuckahoe. We are committed to providing excellent summer camp programs and facilities at Tuckahoe.
Will all Hidden Valley facilities continue to be maintained in operating condition so they can be quickly reopened in the future if the camp can be reopened for summer camp?
We plan to assess our facilities at Hidden Valley and determine our best course of action to make Hidden Valley a great year-round camp. At this point, we don’t specifically know what that answer looks like. Our priorities are to 1) stabilize the financial situation at Hidden Valley, 2) determine if any facilities are past their useful life and should be removed, and 3) determine if any facilities are no longer helpful in our camping operation and should be removed.
The condition of all facilities and the costs associated with maintaining them change over time. The Executive Board, through the Properties Committee, will monitor the condition of all facilities at Hidden Valley and decide how best to proceed.
Can Hidden Valley reopen for summer camp? If so, how can we make that happen?
Our most urgent priority is to regrow our membership as quickly as possible. If we cannot do that, we will not have enough Scouts in our council to attend our camps and make them financially viable.
No specific targets have been established to reopen Hidden Valley for summer camp programs in the future. But if summer camp attendance at Tuckahoe increases beyond our capacity to meet the demand, considering the possibility of reopening Hidden Valley for summer camp may make sense. If the Council is again operating with a surplus, we will not reopen Hidden Valley for summer camp if doing so would result in an operating deficit.
How much money will the council save by not opening Hidden Valley as a summer camp? Why close Hidden Valley for summer camp if these cost savings don't eliminate the deficit?
Using our 2023 results as a “snapshot,” we incurred a $24,973 deficit for Hidden Valley summer camp operations. For the non-summer months, Hidden Valley incurred a $107,675 deficit in 2023.
Operating only one summer camp results in significant “opportunity cost” savings – hiring one summer camp staff instead of two, focusing capital spending on summer camp at one camp only, etc. Professional, volunteer, and financial resources are being spread too thin while trying to operate two summer camps. This “opportunity cost” savings allows us to better focus our collective attention and resources on delivering outstanding summer camp experiences at a single summer camp.