2018 Budget Vote

Sponsor

• Andrew Camardella
• Brian Chojnowski

History

• 2017-12-21 - Vote announced on the mailing list
• 2018-01-04 - Language locked in.
• 201-01-08 - Vote of the membership on this budget.

Background

Aims

This budget is designed with the following goals:

• Make sure there is a real operating slush based on actual spending (2 months full, 5 months min operating expenses)
• Make sure that there are enough funds available to cover tax bill.
• Make sure that there is an emergency cash pile available for other emergency expenses other than operating, such as safety, compliance, building maintenance/improvements.
• Provide area hosts with more spending power to provide better service to the membership.

Big Picture

Account	Amount
Current bank balance (as of 2017-12-something)	$63,000
Projected income for 2018	$186,960
Administrative Expenses	-$92,381.96
5 months minimum operating expenses	-$46,178.70
Area budgets	-$47,131
Votes budget	-$35,900
Member Points	-$8,000
Outstanding Votes Budget 2017	-$0

Accounts

The following is a list of account budget totals for the year. They are explained in detail in the linked sheets below.

Account	Yearly
Savings Goals	-$10,600
Advertising	-$1,144.00
Bank Charges	-$7,304.16
Disposal Fees	-$100.00
Education	-$2,030.00
Equipment	-$46,875.00
Furniture	-$2,634.00
Insurance	-$2,686.00
Job Materials	-$3,260.00
Meals & Entertainment	-$1,200.00
Member Dues	$186,960.00
Office Expenses	-$5,667.40
Professional Services	-$5,000.00
Regs., Licenses, and Fees	$0.00
Rent	-$47,787.48
Repair & Maintenance	-$5,782.00
Safety Equipment	-$1,920.00
Supplies	-$16,415.00
Tools	-$3,993.00
Utilities	-$22,464.00

There is an excess of $97.96 in the final budget.

Account Guide

Account	Type	Description
Membership Projection	Income	Estimated revenue from member dues and costs from member points, area hosts, etc.
Membership Dues	Income	Estimated revenue from member dues.
Savings Goals	Transfer	2 months' operating expenses, tax estimation, estimated moving expenses to be transferred to savings
Advertising	Expenses	Costs of advertising and promoting any event related to the area
Bank Charges	Expenses	Paypal and Chase fees
Disposal Fees	Expenses	Any costs associated with disposing of equipment or supplies
Education	Expenses	Costs of books/classes or other education materials for the area
Equipment	Fixed Assets	Large Long Lived Equipment
Furniture	Fixed Assets	Costs of furniture for the area
Insurance	Expenses	Insurance costs
Job Materials	Expenses	Costs of materials required to improve the area
Meals & Entertainment	Expenses	Party budgets
Office Expenses	Expenses	Checks
Professional Services	Expenses	Lawyer & accountant/bookkeeper
Rent	Expenses	Rent costs
Repair & Maintenance	Expenses	Costs for planned and unplanned repairs to tools in the area
Safety Equipment	Expenses	Cost of any safety equipment
Supplies	Expenses	Cost of consumables (drillbits/grinding wheels/ink/fillament)
Tools	Expenses	Small Tools that cost less than $75
Utilities	Expenses	Gas, electric, Internet, trash, & cleaning costs

Additional Notes

• The CTO and PR budgets are funds that are allocated to those positions such that a board vote is not required for those positions to spend money allocated towards the improvement of general technology infrastructure or general public relations or outreach that directly benefits the organization.

• The language states that there is no real spending limit for repairing or replacing a piece of equipment in an area. This is to allow area hosts to maintain their areas as normal. If another member decides it would be best to replace a broken tool with a better tool, there would need to be a member vote to authorize it.

• The sheets we used to plan this budget were transcribed to the following wiki pages:
  • 2018 Budget Vote/FY2015 Master Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Minimal Operating Expenses Plan
  • 2018 Budget Vote/General & Administrative Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/G&A - CTO
  • 2018 Budget Vote/General Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/CNC Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Electronics Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Cold Metals Area Host
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Hot Metals Area Host
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Kitchen Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Tool Cage Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Arts and Crafts Area Budget
  • 2018 Budget Vote/Woodshop Area Budget

Language

This vote is to authorize the budget for the 2018 Fiscal Year which lasts from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. This vote authorization will expire on December 31, 2018.

The official, itemized budget we are voting on can be found in the following subpages:

• 2018 Budget Vote/FY2018 Master Budget
• 2018 Budget Vote/Minimal Operating Expenses Plan

In addition to this the following rules apply:

Previous Spending Authorization Expiration

• All previous spending authorizations expire 12/31/2017 except for the following votes:

Reporting on Spending

• Area host spending is to be reported for every month by the first of the following month.
• An accountant may be hired to assist the Treasurer in their duties.

Account Balances

• The savings account must have a balance consisting of:
  • 5 months minimum operating expenses ($46,664.95). This is to be an emergency fund that should only be used in cases of emergency, at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
  • By the end of the Fiscal Year, it should also contain a contribution of $5,000 towards the cost of moving the organization in the future.
• Note: Funds required to reach these balances are covered as the savings goals line item in the master budget.
• Funding of savings goals/accounts should be amortized over the year. Spending in other categories can still occur before these goals are met. After the required balances are met, all money may be used for area host and vote spending.

Area Host Spending

• Area hosts will be issued a expense card with an initial value of $500.
• Area hosts are authorized to spend up to the budgeted amount listed in the master budget page. The spending of this amount should be prorated over the year to allow the organization to collect the required income to fund the spending.
• Area hosts may authorize individual members to spend money against area budgets for the purpose of better serving those areas, at the discretion of the board.
• Area hosts are authorized to spend beyond the $500 PEX card limit, if the expenditure is noted in the respective area budget.
• Area hosts may spend any amount within their budget to replace or repair existing tooling or machinery.
• The categories in each individual area host budget are guidelines and area hosts are not required to spend their money exactly as allocated on the master budget page.
  • Area hosts must complete an itemized expense report after spending any money on an expense card.
  • Area hosts must request additional funds be placed on their card to cover purchases over $500.
  • All expenses for a month are to be submitted to the treasurer by the first day of the following month. Replenishment or additional funds may be withheld without properly reported expense reports.

Board of Directors Spending

• The Board of Directors is authorized to spend from the General and Administrative budgets. The CTO is authorized to spend from the CTO budget. The PR director is authorized to spend from the PR budget. Budgets that are already authorized to the Board of Directors from the bylaws are guidelines, as the bylaws take precedence.

Reporting

• The treasurer must produce a report at minimum for each month, showing spending/income against all budgets. The reports should be released in a reasonable amount of time after the end of each month.
• The treasurer must produce a report showing spending/income against all budgets when requested by any member.