why dues increase?

[Ancil Nance]

From the minutes:


"We talked a bit about Code of Conduct and dues increases which may go up $10 this year. there seemed to be a general acceptance of the dues increase. "

I was not a the meeting, but I suppose reasons were given to explain why we need more than the few thousand dollars that is already there. No mention in the minutes of the reasons for the increase and whether or not it is going to be an email ballot vote.

Every year the pot gets fuller and fuller at the present dues rate. Or am I wrong on this?

[Luke]

Mark Forbes said that the reason for the dues increase was increased insurance costs: Mark said this was primarily due to increased pilot insurance and not instructor insurance.   He also did mention that USHPA has been using up excess funds accumulated since the earlier on in the Association's history:  This is why dues increases generally haven't kept up with inflation (I am paraphrasing but I think it is along the general point Mark was making).  Anyhow he stated that we would be in a deficit within a year or two without the increase.  There is not going to be an e-mail ballot vote that I am aware of:  The vote will take place at the BOD meeting and Mark said he would most likely support a $10 dues increase at the meeting (the issue was already on the agenda).   I guess Mark can add anything or perhaps post a link to one of his graphs used at a previous meeting to illustrate his thinking.  I hope this helps and as it is merely a brief summation of the information Mark has provided as I understood it.

 

Luke (please don't beat up the messanger)

[Kevin Lee/ Thermal Tracker Paragliding]

let's be clear whether were talking about CPC club dues or the USHPA's.

Anyone?

Kevin

*** Sent from my mobile phone ***

Kevin Lee / Thermal Tracker PG
thermaltracker.com

[Kevin Nichols]

The reference is to USHPA dues.

[Ancil Nance]

Thanks, it was not clear if it was CPC dues going up or USHPA....

[Mark G. Forbes]

I don't have the chart handy here on my iPad, but I'll post it next week. In brief, it's been a while since we did an inflation adjustment on dues, and we've also had a very significant price increase on our insurance policy, amounting to $10/member/year. A combination of conservative budgeting, careful cost management and operating efficiency improvements has kept us modestly positive on annual net operating revenue. That meant we had enough reserves to handle the insurance cost for the short term, but we'll be in trouble in a couple of years if don't do something.

Members renew throughout the year, so it takes about a year for a dues increase to show up on the bottom line. We would implement a dues increase (assuming it's approved by the board) starting with January renewals. A ten dollar increase for 2013 would offset the direct cost of the insurance policy change, and I'm projecting an additional $5 increase to adjust for inflation in January of 2014. There was some discussion of whether it made more sense to do one big increase all at once, or spread it out over several years. The latter seemed to be the preference of those who had an opinion.

ma...@mgforbes.com
541-760-3231 (cell)
MGF iPad