Just came in from the TCA:
Fellow TCA members,
The purpose of this email is to inform you that the TCA yearly dues substantially increased and why that increase was necessary. Starting immediately, the dues will be increased from $35 to $50 per year. Dues for Family members, formerly $1.00 have increased to $2.00. Kids Club members who turn their Kids Club membership into a full TCA member will pay $25.00 as will Associate members. I'll start off by saying that the last dues increase was six years ago and there should have been increases during that period. Here's why:
For the Fiscal Year 2013-14 budget the total TCA total budgeted expenses divided by the number of dues paying members results in a cost per member of $62.89. Another way of presenting this is that each member will pay $50 in dues and receive $62.89 in benefits. For the previous years the actual amount of benefits received by each member per year is tabulated below:
Fiscal Year 2013-14 $62.89
Fiscal Year 2012-13 $53.41
Fiscal Year 2011-12 $45.40
Fiscal Year 2010-11 $44.13
After seeing these numbers the question that pops out is why the increase for this years 2013-2014 budget. The answer is simply this. (1) A 10% drop in dues paying members is projected due to the dues increase. (2) The museum is showing its age and many repairs are necessary. There are major repairs scheduled to occur in the next 3 years and others scheduled out to the next 30+ years. In past years repairs to the museum and business office have been budgeted and paid for in the year that they occurred and in some cases, loans were taken out to pay for them. This will be different from now on. As done with most condo associations, TCA must set money aside each year to pay for future repairs when they are anticipated. For example, the carpets in the museum are scheduled to be replaced in years 2015 and 2030. Money must be set aside for both replacements this year, half for the first replacement, if it is to be done in two years and approximately one sixteenth for the second replacement to be done 16 years later. To summarize, all future repairs to the museum and business office are scheduled and moneys will be set aside each year and put in a "Reserves for Capital Improvements" account to pay for them when scheduled. Your division president either has or can get access to all this information. This information is sensitive as it has employee salary information and thus can only be made available to TCA division presidents.
Next I will discuss TCA income. Dues are the major, but not only, source of income needed to balance the budget. Other sources of income are investment income, fundraisers, advertising, conventions, annual appeal, donations, legacy trips, museum admissions, museum store, etc. Over the last few years TCA was very fortunate to receive substantial bequests from the estates of diseased members. For example, last year the cash donations totaled almost $305,000 and $71,000 the prior year. These funds were used to balance the budget during those years. This year we are anticipating donations of only $5,000. From the time a will is probated to the time TCA receives the money the process could take years and currently there is "no money in the pipeline".
There will be donations of trains to the museum this year. They will be accessed in the museum collection and if any trains are de-accessioned, the moneys generated through the sale will be set aside for future train purchases only. These funds will not be used to help balance the budget as done in the past.
I mentioned earlier that for the fiscal year 2013-14 budget the total TCA budgeted expenses divided by the number of dues paying members is $62.89. Now I'll try to explain where that money goes through the pie chart Bob Mintz developed shown below. Starting at the 12 o'clock position on the pie chart and going clockwise around it the slices are categorized by the list to the right of the chart. I'll just make a few points relative to the chart. All employee costs, except for the librarian, are in the National Business Office slice. The librarian's salary plus benefits costs are in the Reference Library slice (along with all other costs such as cleaning, heat, AC, etc). The major change from previous years is the "Reserve For Capital Improvements" slice which is $14.85 per member. This is approximately five dollars higher than the previous year.
This is probably the first time many members have had some insight into what it takes to run TCA thanks to Treasurer Bob Mintz and his spread sheet magic. It is also the first time for many division presidents and officers as well (myself included). I'm not trying to defend the budget but just telling you "it is what it is".
This budget was not hastily developed. The numbers I am quoting you are from version 21 of the budget. Bob Mintz has spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours generating this information. This was an especially arduous task due to the untimely death of the past TCA treasurer Bill Kotek. The entire BOD has also gone through this budget on a line-by-line basis. There may not be 100% agreement by all BOD members on each line item in the budget, but I feel all BOD members agree it is 100% accurate.
During the BOD meeting there were discussions on where cuts to the budget could be made in the future through the use of technology. The role of the Internet Committee has been expanded and that committee has been renamed the Internet & Technology Committee to address these topics. I'll save those discussions for a later time.
Have fun,
Bob Obara
TCA President
