Minutes for the regular National Finance Committee meeting August 25, 2015.
Meeting convened at 8:35 PM (ET) a quorum being present, the Chair and
Secretary being present.
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Attending:Lydia Brazon, Adriana Casenave, Bill Crosier, Brian Edwards-Tiekert
(Chair), R. Paul Martin (Secretary), Tony Norman, Michael Novick, Cerene
Roberts, Nancy Sorden, also attending was Efren Llarinas, National Office
Financial Planning and Analysis Manager.
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Agenda:
1. Call to Order (5 minutes)
2. Agenda Approval (5 minutes)
3. Minutes Approval (5 minutes)
A. Public Minutes of August 11, 2015
4. Financial Statement Review (70 Minutes)
A. KPFA (10 minutes)
B. KPFK (10 minutes)
C. KPFT (10 minutes)
D. WPFW (10 minutes)
E. WBAI (10 minutes)
F. National Office (10 minutes)
G. PRA (10 minutes)
5. Scheduling Special Budget Review Meetings (5 minutes)
6. Adjourn 9:00 PM (ET)
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Motion: (Brian Edwards-Tiekert) "To approve the agenda." (Passed without
objection)
Amendment: (R. Paul Martin) "To add 'KPFA Foundation' as item 4H for 10
minutes." (Fails 2 for, 6 against, 1 abstention)
Minutes Approval 8:44 PM (ET)
Motion: (Michael Novick) "To approve the minutes of the August 11, 2015, public
session." (Passed 4 for, 0 against, 5 abstentions)
Financial Statement Review 8:47 PM (ET)
The committee worked from the spreadsheet named "July 31 2015 Income Statement
Prep Aug.19.2015.xlsx."
KPFA 8:47 PM (ET)
The KPFA Director said that income through July 31, was about $611,000 better
than budgeted, due to the bequests received earlier in the year. Listener
Support was off by about $300,000, the Summer on-air fund raiser was cancelled.
KPFA's Fall on-air fund raiser will begin early, on September 15. Management
wants to do that on-air fund raiser in 17 days. If the daily averages are not
good enough they plan to do 21 to 23 days. The goal has been increased to
offset the lack of a Summer on-air fund raiser. Operating Expenses were more
than budgeted by about $87,000. There are two areas that account for most of
the extra expenses, one was premiums which looks to have been mis-budgeted,
maybe due to the template that was used; the other area was in Administration
Expenses where phone charges and repairs pushed expenses over budget. The
station is spending less than budgeted in other areas. As of July 31, KPFA is
about $524,000 better than budgeted.
KPFK 8:52 PM (ET)
The KPFK Treasurer said that his computer had died so he couldn't read from the
income statement during the meeting, and he voiced his frustration with the mix
of accrual and cash accounting on the financial statement.
The committee discussed the report. The National Office Financial Planning and
Analysis Manager said that KPFK was budgeted to pay about $368,000 in Central
Services to the National Office and about $49,000 to the Pacifica Radio
Archives (PRA), but almost $203,000 of the $368,000 has not been paid. Only
$165,000 has been paid for the current fiscal year. Premiums spending was about
$103,000 under budget, but this may be because KPFK hasn't sent out those
premiums yet. After further discussion it was concluded that there had been
double booking of some revenue. KPFK may be as much as $450,000 worse than
budgeted at this time. It was noted that the revenue discrepancy needs to be
corrected, especially when there are layoffs and large scale cuts at KPFK.
KPFT 9:03 PM (ET)
The KPFT Treasurer said that the station is showing a deficit of about $9,700
YTD. Personnel expenses are down, and it is hoped that KPFT will do better once
the new transmitter is installed in the next week or two. The transmitter is
being shipped now, will be delivered in the next week or so, and then it will
be installed.
The committee discussed the report. The station is not getting the Web Site
Income that had been budgeted. They had been planning on taking ads on the Web
site, but outside of a free ad for a restaurant that helps to feed the phone
volunteers there have been no Web site ads. There was a discussion of Web site
ads vs. Web site donations. The possibility of the NFC coming up with criteria
and definitions for Web site derived revenue was discussed.
Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "To extend the time for this item by 3 minutes."
(Passed without objection)
Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "That the NFC create a working group consisting of
volunteers from the NFC and Programming committees to draft guidelines with
regard to Web site advertising at Pacifica stations." (Fails 1 for, 5 against,
3 abstentions)
The committee discussed the motion.
WPFW 9:21 PM (ET)
The WPFW Treasurer said that the station's June numbers are lower in the
National Office spreadsheet than what WPFW has locally because about $37,000
was spent from the restricted fund for moving expenses. In July the station got
about $11,000 in major donations that are not on the National Office
spreadsheet. The station is in the middle of an on-air fund raiser now. The
goal is $120,000; in the first week they have a tally of about $40,000, they
expect the second week to pick up and they expect to get a tally of $80,000 to
$100,000. They had a Buddhist festival that netted about $11,000. They are
working on cutting costs. They have moved out of the storage area which they
won't be paying for anymore, and they are capitalizing on their studios by
letting others use it and getting revenue from that. The WPFW LSB is having a
fund raising retreat to generate fund raising ideas.
The committee discussed the report. The WPFW Treasurer said that they make more
in their on-air fund raisers on the two days of weekends than they usually do
during the five weekdays. The income statement from the National Office shows
the station about $195,000 worse than budget overall. The WPFW Treasurer said
that expenses are lower by about $40,000 and their income is higher than it
says on the spreadsheet by at least $60,000 which makes them about $95,000
short of budget overall. There was a discussion of the differences between
WPFW's local figures and the figures in the National Office's income statement
including the belief that some revenue is getting lumped into Listener Support
that shouldn't be there. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis
Manager said that WPFW owes over $30,000 for Central Services and that all of
the stations owe about $357,000 in Central Services payments. The station is
somewhat behind on paying benefits.
WBAI 9:39 PM (ET)
The WBAI Treasurer reported that at the last local Finance Committee meeting
the WBAI General Manager said that he disagreed with the previous income
statement that went to the end of June and said that it was inaccurate. The
current income statement from the National Office lists WBAI's Listener Support
revenue as about $254,000 worse than budgeted. It looks like the lumping of
other revenue into Listener Support is still happening. Grants income is listed
as $76,500 short of budget. The General Manager has said that we are getting
more grant income than that. The Web site revenue is under performing by
$68,000. The WBAI General Manager has talked about getting paid ads on the WBAI
Web site, but so far nothing has been done on that. The Major Donor line is
only $1,520, this is at variance with what WBAI Management has reported. The
General Manager says that Listener Support is about $1,208,000 which is close.
Other figures are at variance. Personnel costs are worse than budgeted by about
$41,000 in the National Office income statement, but the WBAI Treasurer doesn't
know why that is. The General Manager is still using Quickbook and has said
he'll have good numbers for the WBAI local Finance Committee at its September
3, meeting. The National Office income statement says that Total Operating
Expenses are better than budget by about $107,000 but the WBAI Treasurer is not
sure that that's true. The WBAI General Manager has told the local Finance
Committee that the station is behind on Central Services payments by about
$110,000. Gross Salaries are worse than budgeted by about $53,000. The Health
Benefits expense line is less than budgeted. Total Local Board & Election
Expenses is listed as $2,062 in July, the National Office Financial Planning
and Analysis Manager said that this was pay for the Local Election Supervisor,
and it means the amount was billed, not necessarily paid. The Consultants line
is worse than budgeted by about $36,000. WBAI Management has not been able to
say why this is the case. Office Supplies are worse by budgeted by about
$28,000 which needs an explanation. The National Office income statement lists
Crafts Fair Income, but WBAI doesn't have a Crafts Fair anymore, if this is
Saturday morning ticket donations the figure is probably wrong. Total Revenue
is off by $634,918. The WBAI General Manager says that the finances are better
than that but he can't say precisely how much better he thinks it is. The Tower
Rental numbers do not jibe with any other numbers that the WBAI Treasurer has
seen on this issue. The Community Events line is $600 YTD which is low, given
the number of such events WBAI has been holding. There are open questions
regarding the details of the WBAI Community Events Income. Actual net loss is
$375,624 which makes WBAI $527,830 worse than budgeted.
The committee discussed the report. The National Office Financial Planning and
Analysis Manager said that the Tower Rental figures represent the accrued
rental. The WBAI Treasurer said that the number looks too high. The National
Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager said that if the WBAI General
Manager uses Great Plains software rather than Quickbook the variances between
his numbers and the National Office's numbers will be less, and that the
Business Manager has to input the data to the Great Plains software. He offered
to teach the WBAI General Manager to use the Great Plains software.
Motion: (Bill Crosier) "To extend this item by five minutes.(Passed without
objection) 9:56 PM (ET)
The committee continued discussing the report. Frustration was voiced regarding
variances in the figures between the stations and the National Office.
Motion: (Michael Novick) "The NFC recommends to the PNB that it have the
Executive Director direct Management at all units to use the same accounting
platform, and that we create a network-wide task force to determine categories
so that all units are using the same categories and can generate comparable
financial documents."
Brian - Motion: (Brian Edwards-Tiekert) "To divide" (passed automatically)
Motion: "The NFC recommends to the PNB that it have the Executive Director
direct Management at all units to use the same accounting platform." (Passed 8
for, 0 against, 1 abstention)
The committee discussed the motion.
Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "To extend the time for this item by two minutes."
(Passed without objection) 10:06 PM (ET)
The committee continued to discuss the motion.
Motion: (Nancy Sorden) "To extend the time for this item by two minutes."
(Passed without objection) 10:08 PM (ET)
The committee continued to discuss the motion.
Motion: "The NFC recommends to the PNB that it create a network-wide task force
to determine categories of income and expenses so that all units are using the
same categories and can generate comparable financial documents." (Tabled)
The committee discussed the motion.
Motion: (Lydia Brazon) "To extend the time for this item by three minutes."
(Passed without objection) 10:12 PM (ET)
The committee continued to discuss the motion.
Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "To table the motion." (Passed 4 for, 3 against, 2
abstentions)
The Chair said that a tabled motion can be taken from the table at any future
meeting.
Point of Order: (R. Paul Martin) A tabled motion cannot be taken off the table
at any future meetings, there are limits.
The Chair ruled that a tabled motion can be taken from the table at any time
during a session and that a session constitutes the full one year term of the
NFC.
Motion: (R. Paul Martin) "To appeal the ruling of the Chair." (Chair upheld 6
for, 2 against, 1 abstention)
Motion: (Bill Crosier) "To extend the time for this item by 10 minutes."
(Passed without objection) 10:20 PM (ET)
National Office 10:20 PM (ET)
The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager said that the
National Office on paper has an income of about $557,000 but about $276,000 of
Central Services payments have not been collected; the real income through July
is about $281,000 of which about $142,000 was paid to the auditors leaving
about $139,000 cash as of now. The National Office had negotiated with lawyers
and other vendors that had previously sued Pacifica for monthly negotiated
payments, these average about $30,000 per month leaving about $100,000 for
salaries, etc. Stations are having difficulties paying Central Services
payments. After one month of not being able to collect Central Services
payments from the stations the National Office is afraid that they will have
difficulties. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager has
written to all of the stations and the National Office is having difficulties
collecting. Next week the National Office needs to advance health care
insurance payments. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager
said he wants to request that the health insurance vendors send separate
invoices to the stations so that each station pays the health insurance vendors
directly so the National Office doesn't have to worry about paying them. He
asked the NFC if he can do that. He also said that not all of the stations are
using the budget template and they should. It will allow the National Office to
make monthly rolling forecasts. Managers will have cash flows every month.
Stations will be involved actively, but if they don't use the template it will
not materialize.
The committee discussed the National Office Financial Planning and Analysis
Manager's question.
Call for the Orders of the Day: (Brian Edwards-Tiekert). 10:31 PM (ET)
Motion: (Nancy Sorden) "To extend the time for this item by five minutes."
Amendment: (Cerene Roberts) "Make it 15 minutes." (Passed without objection)
Motion as amended:"To extend the time for this item by 15 minutes." (Passed
without objection) 10:32 PM (ET)
The committee continued to discuss the report. In response to a question the
National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager said that as of last
week the stations did not have the money available to pay for the elections.
The auditing firm has given the National Office their initial list of audit
requirements which has been sent to all stations but the National Office hasn't
received responses from any of the stations. He said that KPFK needed an
accountant to work with them to finalize their bank reconciliations.
Point of Order: (R. Paul Martin) As per previous motion have to have PRA
Director here to discuss PRA's finances.
Chair rules that none of the General Managers have been invited to this meeting
so PRA is being treated equally.
Motion: (Lydia Brazon) "To postpone PRA to the next meeting," (Passed without
objection)
Scheduling Special Budget Review Meetings 10:45 PM (ET)
Motion: (Brian) "To schedule an additional meeting for September15, 2015."
The committee discussed the motion.
Amendment: (Michael Novick) "To reserve September 29, 2015 too." (Passed
without objection)
Motion as amended: "To schedule additional meetings for September15, and
September 29, 2015." (Passed without objection)
Adjourned 10:52 PM (ET)
Submitted by R. Paul Martin, Secretary.