Broadside of a Board -- Vol II No. 3

["Flieg Hollander" <flieg@garnet.berkeley.edu>]

This is the March Crown Edition of Broadside of a Board. (*=bold +=italic)
It is being posted to the Rialto (rec.org.sca) and to the mailing lists of
the west,antir,caid,east,atlantia and middle. If someone sends me calontir,
I'll add them.  Cross posting is encouraged, but please record it.

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||==> Broadside of a Board - Vol. II, No. 3 <==||
*Vol. II No.3 -- March Crown Special Edition*

*West Kingdom buys out??? -- Follow up Report*
In our Cynagua Coronet Investiture Edition (Vol. II, No. 2) we
reported a possible plan to allow the West Kingdom to pay the
Board Tax on events in lump sums and thereby allow local groups
to avoid the necessity of enforcing the "non-member surcharge" at
the local event level. We contacted Eoin Toirr an Dhragoin, the
Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer, to find out what was
happening with this plan.
         His report was that he had cut a check to the SCA, Inc. in the
amount of $1345, and given it, with supporting paperwork, to His
Majesty, Fabian. This check represented his estimate of what the
West would owe on the tax for one quarter.  He had also generated
supporting documents justifying the amount.
         His Majesty, when contacted, said that he had attempted to
sit down with A.J. Riviezzo, the Treasurer of the SCA, during the
Estrella War, but had been unable to get any commitment from him.
A.J. reportedly said that he couldn't make that decision
unilaterally. He reportedly took the information, but said that
he had to forward it to Sedalia (the Society Seneschale) and the
other Board members for consideration.  Presumably this matter
could come up at a Board phone meeting or it could be put on the
agenda for consideration at the April meeting.
         +Broadside of a Board+ has enquired of other Board members,
but they have heard nothing yet concerning this.  It is to be
hoped that A.J. will send the material on in time for
consideration at the April Board meeting.

*Opinion gathering - Your Voice Counts*
         In the March _Page_, the Seneschale of the West, at the
direction of the Crown, published a questionnaire which asked the
populace their opinion on the "non-member surcharge".  The
deadline for receipt of the questionnaires is 31 March of this
year.  The Seneschale will have extra copies at March Crown for
use by those of the populace who have forgotten to fill them out
or who do not have access to _The Page_. I will also be
duplicating a bunch of them and placing them outside the B.C. on
the Information Table.  You are being asked to sign the poll
sheet to ensure that Their Majesties see "one subject, one
opinion".
         PLEASE FILL OUT A QUESTIONNAIRE AND TURN IT IN!  THEIR
MAJESTIES NEED AND WANT YOUR OPINION!
         (+Warning: The following paragraph is written using
deliberately inflammatory language.  The actual facts are all
true.+) The options in the poll are: I. - Keep on doing it the
way we did it last year. ($1 per attendee surcharge on events
with site fees.) II. - Abandon years of Western egalitarian
feudal attitudes and do it the way the Board wanted it done ($3
surcharge on site fees paid only if you haven't tithed to
Milpitas). III. - Establish the West Kingdom's "fair share" of
the Board Tax and pay it to the SCA, Inc. quarterly, raising the
money to replenish the West Kingdom Treasury by fee adjustments
for Kingdom events. (This is what is being currently done in the
Kingdom, and represents the option offered by His Majesty to the
SCA Treasurer.) IV. - Other (please print)
*Opinion*
         +Broadside of a Board+ suggests that you check option III if
you feel that the SCA, Inc. and the Board needs and deserves our
support in this matter. It does the least damage to our ancient
traditions.
         +Broadside of a Board+ also offers the following as possible
"Other" answers. A - Refuse to pay any Board Tax to the SCA, Inc.
(Tell the Board directly and firmly to forget any _mandatory_
fees from the populace or the Kingdoms. Let the Board balance the
budget by cutting costs to offset the money that was wasted by
poor fiscal management on their part. See accompanying story on
the SCA Budget.)  B - Have the West Kingdom raise money to offset
the deficit in the subscription liability, but hold it in trust
until the SCA, Inc. produces fiscal policies that ensure that the
subscription liability will not be touched for operational
expenses. C - Establish Kingdom Policy that all events are to be
funded by "requested donation" rather than by "site fees". (We
can still charge for feasts -- feasts are not subject to the
surcharge.)
         +Broadside of a Board+ has been clear on its policy on this
matter. We feel that the SCA, Inc. has no right to impose
_mandatory_ fees (or Board Tax) on the populace or the Kingdoms
of the Known World.  However, we also feel that funding the
subscription liability should be a priority for the Board of
Directors. We suggest you to write to the Board, urging them to
cut costs to the bone, urging them to establish Board-level
fiscal policies which will prevent future problems, and urging
them to repeal the Board Tax/"non-member surcharge". Once this
has been done, we feel that we in the West can then raise money
to make _voluntary donations_ to help the Board reduce the
deficit.

*Grand Council Up and running*
         The Grand Council was fully established by the Board at
their last meeting. Those members already assembled have started
to discuss things. The Proceedings are being published both in
electronic form and in hardcopy. To subscribe electronically send
an e-message to: listproc@lists.princeton.edu . The message
should be just: SUBSCRIBE SCAGC-L <Your Name>.  If you wish
hardcopy mailings (once per month) you should write to Philippa
de Ecosse, sending your name an address and $10 to Phyllis
Gilmore, P.O. Box 13042, Torrance, CA 90503-0042. She will send
you a typeset copy of the Chronicle and let you know when your
money is about to run out.
         The Chronicle is also available for viewing at the B.C.
Information Table.
         The Grand Council offered membership to several more people,
and is now up to 31 out of 40 proposed members. New invitees from
the West are Brion Thornbird ap Rhys and Frederick of Holland, in
addition to the already published and approved Corwyn da Costa,
Eric Bearsbane and Isabeau of the Wylde Woode from Lochac.  The
new invitees still have to be approved by the Board either by
phone vote or at the April Meeting.
         Applications are still solicited. Membership in the SCA,
Inc. is not, repeat NOT, a requirement to serve on the Grand
Council.

*No New Waiver Yet*
         The matter of the new waiver was put forward to the April
Board Meeting from the January meeting. If there is not a
substantive report at the April meeting, write your ombudsperson
and find out why not!

*Next Board Meetings*
         April 9, 1995 -- An Tir, Seattle.  Deadline for commentary
is March 24.
         July 22, 1995 -- Deadline for comments is 30 June.  Location
to be decided at the April Meeting.
         Further down the road, meetings are scheduled for October
21, 1995 and  January 20, 1996.

*SCA Budget finally Published!*
         The 1995 SCA Budget has been published by the Treasurer,
Director A.J. Riviezzo, and has been mailed to all Kingdom
Exchequers and Seneschals.  The document includes the 1994
balance sheets shown to the Board at the last meeting. It is
available from The Stock Clerk at the SCA address at a price of
$3.
         This represents an apparent substantial profit per item to
the SCA, Inc. for a 14 page document. (Calculation: copying costs
at 3.5 cents per side (49 cents); postage for nine sheets
assuming that only those documents which are complete are printed
back-to-back (55 cents); envelope (5 cents); total item cost is
$1.09.  This analysis, however, ignores the Stock Clerk's salary.
If we assume that the SCA, Inc. is paying her a reasonable rate
of $10/hour for semi-skilled labor, six minutes of her time
(opening the envelope, pulling the copy and addressing and
stuffing the envelope) adds $1.00 to the real cost of mailing the
Budget to you. A 30% markup is very reasonable. We suspect that
this is accidental, however, given the evidence below.
         Copies of the SCA Budget can be obtained at the B.C.
Information Table for 50 cents, or via mail from +Broadside of a
Board+ for $1 (we use cheaper printing and envelopes and don't
charge labor). You can also request a copy from the West Kingdom
Exchequer.
         Order it.  Inspect it. Comment on it!

*Commentary on the SCA Budget*
         +Broadside of a Board+ offers a selection of questions to
think about with respect to the published Budget.
         1) Why is the Stock Clerk office running at a loss?
(Projected income minus cost-of-sales as given in the Budget is
positive, but cost-of-sales does not include the Stock Clerk's
salary and benefits.  If any reasonable salary is included in the
costs of the Stock Clerk office, the Office is losing money.)
Why does the Treasurer of our organization claim in his cover
letter that it is making a small profit?
         2) Why, in what ought to be an austerity budget, is an
amount for an Executive Director's salary budgeted into the
Salaries section? (Note: you won't find this mentioned in the
cover letter, even though it is no secret; this is why the budget
for salaries for 1995 is $166,000 while the amount spent in 1994
was $113,176.27.)
         3) Why is the Treasurer is so enthusiastic about using the
Board Tax/"non-member surcharge" to raise $50,000 when the SCA,
Inc. can raise $53,000 by dropping the above single item of
expense?

         4) Why do the SCA Officers need travel funds (total $5,000)?
Can't they pay for their own travel expenses the way the Kingdom
Officers do?
         5) If the Board is going to great lengths to save on Board
Meeting expenses as stated in the cover letter, why does the
budget only show $2,000 (8%) in savings?
         6) How are the "stipends" for the Officers established, and
why do they exist at all for most of the officers? (I will not
grudge the Society Seneschale nor the Exchequer their stipends
for what are clearly part-time jobs; but why should the Society
Marshal get a stipend when the Laurel King of Arms does not?)
         7) Why are the SCA Office printing and postage expenses not
much lower compared to last year? (1994 actual costs: $51,000;
1995 Budget costs: $43,000)  Estimates of the printing and
postage costs of the mailing of February 1994 (a one-time
expense) are between $15,000 to $20,000. Even with the postal
hike there ought to be more than an $8,000 reduction.
         8) Why is the total number of membership purchases in 1995
estimated at 25,643?  This is fewer members than there are paid
members right now. It represents an estimated 0% growth rate when
annual growth has been running at 5 to 15% consistently over the
last several years.
         It is wise to estimate your costs high and your income low
when it comes to budgeting.  However, the figures in the SCA
Budget show far more "conservatism" than is necessary. It is the
opinion of this writer that the costs of the 1995 budget have
been inflated in order to cover the fact that the Board Tax/"non-
member surcharge" is totally unneeded to build up an operational
reserve in a reasonable time.

*West Kingdom ombudsman changes*
         The Board has reassigned the ombudsman assignments.  The
West Kingdom ombudsman is now
L. Jane Richards, 2925 South 7th St. West, Missoula, MT, 59801
(406) 721-9658.

*Where to write: *
         SCA Office: SCA, Inc., P.O. Box 360789, Milpitas, CA, 95036-
0789. (If you are writing to the Board you can send your letter
here. If you write to individual directors please send a copy to
the SCA Office with a clear indication of which Directors need
not be copied. This is also the address for the Stock Clerk.)
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+Broadside of a Board+ is an occasional publication, written and
edited by Frederick of Holland (3334 California Street, Berkeley,
CA, 94703. Phone (510)-653-3652.
email: flieg@garnet.berkeley.edu).
         Reproduction of all or parts of +Broadside of a Board+ is
encouraged. Please don't alter any article, and please do credit
the source. Contributions from other authors are solicited and
will be printed on a space-available basis. The next edition of
+Broadside of a Board+ will be published for Beltane Coronation.
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   *   *   *    Frederick of Holland, MSCA, OP, etc.
  *** *** ***   flieg@garnet.berkeley.edu
  _|___|___|_
 |===========|
  (((Flieg Hollander, Chem. Dept., U.C. Berkeley)))
 ================== Old Used Duke  =================
        [All subjects of the Crown are equal under its protection
          and no Corporation is going to convince me otherwise.]