Membership Fee Increase

As many of you know, there was a good indication that there would be a membership fee increase proposed as part of the new budget.  To be brief, the budget was passed along with the proposed fee increase.  The approval process was anything but brief, however.

Why A Fee Increase is Needed

A membership commission a year ago identified the fact that facilities has been subsidizing other aspects of the ACC (including membership services) in the region of $200,000/year.

The membership services deficit is currently in the region of $180,000 which works out to about $30 deficit/member each year.  Theoretically, that could mean that membership fees (for National Membership only) could rise by $30 (it's currently $19 for a basic single membership).

National has no intention of doing this unless conditions make it absolutely necessary.  For instance, SARS, the War on Terrorism, the loss of the Fay Hut ($12,000 loss in revenue from this hut alone) and other national and global events have conspired to make this past year a very difficult one for the ACC.  The ACC is hopeful that next year will be better.

Liability insurance will be increasing substantially.  It is currently costing $35,000.  It may cost as much as $50,000 this coming year.

What Was Done to Avoid an Increase

When the budget process for this coming year was started, there was a potential deficit of $370,000.  Every line in the budget was considered to achieve a break-even situation.  Some examples of things that were seriously considered:

• canceling Board meetings
• canceling the Gazette
• canceling our insurance (currently $35,000/year) and moving to self-insurance
• reducing staffing (needed staffing is being put off for now)
• electronic Gazette (would probably lose a lot of advertising)
• a B&W Gazette (the biggest cost is postage, not color)
• reducing capital expenditures
• putting off facilities maintenance (facilities are our biggest asset - we neglect them to the detriment of the club).

There were other examples given, but the Executive considered everything in the budget, right down to the smallest items.

Sections were asked for input last spring/summer.  Apparently only half of the Sections responded (the SK Section did respond in June).