Proposals to the Coordinating Committee 
for November 4, 2007, Newton, Kansas meeting
 
Finance Proposals (3)
submitted by Tana Hastings, Treasurer
 
1) Reserve Fund Target
 
Purpose: To establish, as policy, a target figure for the reserve fund, expressed as 15% of total budget.
 
Reasoning: For years the Ad Comm and Coordinator have informally used a percentage, in years when there was sizeable surplus of income over expenses, and thus “net income” for the year, to determine how much money to hold back as reserves, and how much surplus to carry forward to use toward meeting the goals of the organization in the next fiscal year. The Ad Comm in May ‘07 expressed a desire that this practice be set as policy, and that the target percentage be established by the CC.
 We are proposing 15% because it is the number we have used in the past, which has worked well for us. It is approximately equal to 2 months expenses (2/12 = .166), which offers some protection against cash-flow crunches, but does not leave us with a lot of money just sitting around, when there’s important work to be done. 
 
2) WTRs and Aging Fund
 
Purpose: To close out the “WTRs & Aging” fund and transfer the money to reserves.
 
Reasoning: The “WTRs & Aging Fund” was set up in Jan. 2005 with a $3500 special donation from an anonymous donor, who requested that the money be used for starting a WTR pension fund, or some other way of communally caring for our aging wtrs and for the WTRs and aging practical. The practical was printed a low cost, but the bigger project has never gotten off the ground. 
 The AdComm in May ‘07 suggested that closing this fund, and transferring the money to our general reserves, might be appropriate, but felt CC approval may be needed for this.
 The original donor has indicated, within the last year, general approved of NWTRCC using the money for other purposes, if needed. 
 We propose that the funds ($3,439.78) be transferred to reserves, realizing that the “cap” on reserves established in proposal #1 will likely result in making a considerable amount of this money available for the next fiscal year. This could be very useful for the organization at a time when we have two major projects (video, 1 year boycott campaign) drawing a lot of activity and interest, and needing funding.
 It remains to be seen if the special fundraising for the above-mentioned projects has negatively impacted NWTRCC’s general fundraising in the current year. Since that is a possibility, however, it seems prudent to make sure the reserves are “full” before allocating any of this money to any specific items in the budget, rather than to just locate this money directly from one project (aging & wtrs) to any other(s).
 
3) Change Treasurer, or Treasurer’s Duties
 
Purpose: To find a treasurer who can fulfill the duties of the office as stated, or to modify the stated duties to reflect current practice.
 
Reasoning: The duties of the Treasurer are listed as follows in the NWTRCC Handbook:
4.  Treasurer
 (A)  Appointment:
The Coordinating Committee (CC) shall appoint a volunteer Treasurer who ill work with the Coordinator to manage NWTRCC’s financial affairs. 
(B)  Accountability:
The Treasurer is accountable to the CC. When the CC is not in session, he Treasurer is accountable to the Administrative Committee (AC). The Treasurer may be removed from office at any time by the CC or the AC.
(C)  Responsibilities:  The Treasurer shall:
(a)  Serve as cosigner, with the Coordinator, on all NWTRCC  accounts.
(b)  Assist the Coordinator to provide an accurate and up-to-date financial report at every CC meeting.
(c)  Audit all NWTRCC accounts annually and make a report to the AC.
(d)  Offer financial advice and propose financial policies as appropriate.
 Sources:  Minutes 11/97 (in Coordinator Personnel Policy); Minutes  11/06




 Responsibility (C)(c) Has only been fulfilled once, partially, in the tenure of the current treasurer, Tana Hastings.
 The position of Treasurer has been evolving over the years. During Karen’s tenure, Dave Zarembka. worked very closely with her on the finances. Over the course of Mary’s tenure, this role transferred more to Tana. Due to some confusion with the bookkeeping in 2001, Tana really dug into the books with Mary, and at that point, at least, really knew the financial system, which was still basically “manual” at that time, and personally checked & worked with most of the transactions and allocations for that fiscal year. This is the ONLY time Tana has come close to doing an “annual audit.” And she has never reported to the CC on the state of the organizations financial system. Ruth inherited Tana as treasurer, but has not needed much imput/help from her - she is very comfortable with the financial aspects of the coordinator position. The books have been put on Quickbooks, and though Tana has been given the opportunity to learn Quickbooks, she hasn’t done so. 
 If annual audits, and an annual report to the AC on the outcome of these audits, are truly desired by the CC, it would make more sense to have someone geographically closer to the coordinator be treasurer, who could more easily look over bank statements & deposit

slips, check the state of the financial files, and more easily look at the actual accounting program in “real time” (as opposed to a disk of the program sent to someone with a compatible version of Quickbooks), and be more involved in the accounting on an ongoing basis.
 This could also be more beneficial, in the event the coordinator is suddenly incapacitated in some way -- there would be someone nearby who could manage the finances right away.
 If the annual audits and annual report are not needed by the CC, or do not need to be done by the Treasurer, then the Treasurer’s duties could be modified to reflect that, and more accurately reflect current practice.
 
Miscellaneous Proposals (2)
 
A) Travel Fund Amendment
Changed requested by Peg Morton, Taxes for Life, Eugene, OR

The current policy for the Travel Fund offers funds for the November Coordinating Committee meeting only. Sometimes group members cannot travel in November but might be able to attend the May meeting with support.

This proposal is to change the policy so that travel funds are offered for both May and November meetings. If approved, the current policy would need to be amended to “NWTRCC meetings” (or appropriate language) in each place where the policy refers to the “November meeting.” The travel fund information would need to be sent out with May meeting announcements.

Funding: The fund was established by an anonymous donor to “to promote regular attendance by representatives of NWTRCC local, not national, affiliates at one Coordinating Committee per year.” Currently there is a balance of $3,661.17 (prior to any requests for the Nov. ‘07 meeting). The fund started with $4,574 in May 2004. It has been used, but demand has not been heavy. Opening funds up to the second meeting might help draw more affiliate reps to at least one meeting a year.

B) Join War Tax Resistance to Subvert the Myth of 9/11

Submitted by Joffre Stewart, Chicago

 
Printed copies available at meeting or mailed on request — In summary, a proposal to connect the belief that 9/11 was perpetrated by the government/FBI/CIA/Mossad with calls for war tax resistance: “We invite you consciously to conscientiously withdraw your dollarized labor (buying power) from these terror wars on terror and by this publicity undermine the patriotic deceit informing treacherous rationales.”