Archie,

In a nut shell the BOD tries to analyze our income and expenses on an annual basis. We look at the numbers to determine our financial situation over the course of a year. As far as I know up until last year the club was actually losing money mostly from the expenses of the convention. Moving to the new location last year proved to help our bottom line. Thinking proactively, tapping into our reserves to cover any potential losses could give us a sense of instability. We may not be able to keep the same site and control the expenses as we would like in the near future. Our largest expenditures are the Convention and the Club Magazine. The costs of the magazine eat up a large portion of the Membership fee.

In some aspects Life Membership does not help the club as much as the member itself. An example of that is the rate by which the members signed up initially is probably considerably less than the current rate. Granted it gives the club an added one time boost. That money is kept in a separate account and withdrawn and transferred to the main account upon you renewal date. I am not condemning the Life Membership program only stating the reality of it.

Additionally There are many upcoming projects that will be presented by our Membership Committee which will require some cash outlay and some of the increase will go to offset those programs. The membership committee will make its recommendations and will they will be announced.

I would hope that we do not hasten any departures because of this increase.
It would be hard to determine that given that we are not always told the reason for a members departure.

AS far as I know there has never been any type of "Role Call" recorded vote on any issues presented before the BOD

Jerry