The RWCS Board of Directors voted to ask the membership to increase membership dues $10 beginning August 1, 2013. This step was not taken lightly and followed a lengthy discussion.
The Board recognizes that this might not the best time, economically, to ask the membership to increase dues. There are a number of reasons the Board has taken this action, but, the number one reason is that the cost of membership does not cover the cost of the RWCS Newsletter. It needs to be understood that the overall annual cost of the Newsletter is actually $10,000 less than it was in 2006, but because of the decline in membership, the per-issue cost of the Newsletter has increased. The Board even went to a 4-year contract vs. a 2-year contract to save additional dollars. Up until now, the Board was able to make up the difference in cost through other means; however, this is no longer possible with the decline in membership. Additionally, as you know, prices for everything have generally increased steadily.
The RWCS Board has done an excellent job in reducing expenditures so dues would not increase in past years. Here are some facts one should be aware of about budget cuts the Board made in the past to avoid a dues increase:
- The spring Board meeting was eliminated in 2008 and this practice continues.
- The fall executive meeting and full Board meeting were modified from actual face-to-face meetings to conference call in 2009.
- Board meals and travel reimbursement for all meetings and conferences was eliminated in 2010
- The administrative assistant position was eliminated in 2011
- Since 2004, the RWCS expenditures were reduced by 27%
- While office supplies have increased in price, we have reduced office expenditures for supplies, equipment, postage, printing, etc by 10% since 2006
If the membership approved the dues increase at the Annual Business Meeting at the 2013 Convention in July, the Board would encourage members to renew their membership for two years before the dues increase goes into effect on August 1, 2013