Minutes for the regular National Finance Committee meeting October 27, 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 were National Office Financial Planning
and Analysis Manager Efren Llarinas and WPFW General Manager Gerald Paris.
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Agenda:

Call to Order (5 minutes)

Agenda Approval (5 minutes)

Minutes Approval (5 minutes)
Minutes of September 22, 2015
Minutes of September 29, 2015
Minutes of October 13, 2015
Minutes of October 19, 2015

Budget Review and Approval
Consideration of National Office
PRA Budget Second Review (15 minutes)
WPFW Budget - second review (if available - 15 minutes)
KPFT Budget - second review (if available - 15 minutes)
Status of other budgets (10 minutes)
Checking re: Fall Fund Drive Results (15 minutes)
Cash Flow / Liquidity (15 minutes)

Adjourn 10:15
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Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "To approve the agenda." (Passed as amended without
objection)

Amendment: (Tony Norman) "To add 'Consideration of National Office' to the
agenda as 4A, and PRA as 4B." (Passed without objection)

Minutes Approval 8:40 PM (ET)

Motion: (Lydia Brazon) "To approve the minutes of the September 22, 2015,
meeting." (Postponed to the next meting)

Motion: (Cerene Roberts) "To postpone the motion to the next meeting." (Passed
without objection)

Budget Review and Approval 8:41 PM (ET)

National Office 8:41 PM (ET)

The committee discussed the National Office draft FY16 budget proposal.

It was noted that the Mail Fund Drive line shows a revenue of $97,000 which is
lower than last year's actuals. The National Office Financial Planning and
Analysis Manager said that he was not sure about the Mail Fund Drive and the
$97,000 figure was a cold estimate.

There was a discussion of the SCA revenue and its relation to the National
Office and the stations. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis
Manager said that the National Office was still negotiating some of the
contracts. He said that some SCA lessees were not paying on time and that in
FY16 the plan was to charge them late fees if they get in arrears or cut their
service if they don't pay. The draft FY16 budget shows on time payments. The
National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager said that the draft
budget assumes that there will be a paid Executive Director and a paid CFO in
February 2016, and that they are budgeting for only one PNB meeting in FY16.
There was a short discussion of possible legal fees and what year's budget they
belonged in. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager said
that Pacifica still owes about $20,000 on pension payments, some stations do
not have the money to pay this; there was a discussion of stations not being
able to meet their obligations to remit pension payments.

There is a discussion of the Cost to Update Great Plains Software line expense
of about $50,000. The National Office Financial Planning and Analysis Manager
said that Pacifica's version of this software is 12 to 15 years old, and no one
is trained on it anymore which makes it difficult to hire anyone to work on it;
he said that this upgrade would save more than its own cost when it came time
to produce the schedules for the auditors. He said that the upgraded software
will allow stations to scan in actual financial documents. It would also allow
the National Office to see which stations are not complying with the accounting
requirements. It was noted that the National Office was projecting a surplus of
almost $116,000 at the end of FY16, the National Office Financial Planning and
Analysis Manager said that the entire National Office FY16 budget requires that
everyone pay on time, he said that the moment any entity fails to pay on time
the National Office is in trouble. It was brought up that some stations haven't
paid Central Services fees on time in quite a while. The committee discussed
this and how the Great Plains software upgrade would assist in more timely
accounting.

There are about 9.3 FTEs at the National Office.

PRA Budget Second Review 9:30 PM (ET)

The Chair reported that he'd gotten the Pacifica Radio Archive (PRA) draft FY16
budget proposal over the weekend. The budget adjusted the credit card expenses.
It's a break even budget. He noted that PRA is counting on twice as much
Listener Support this year as is projected for FY15.

Motion: (Adriana Casenave) "That PRA resubmit their FY16 budget with a 10%
reduction in personnel costs, this will save $40,000." (Passed 4 for, 3
against, 2 abstentions)

The committee debated the motion.

WPFW Budget - second review 9:50 PM (ET)

The WPFW General Manager said that the station's draft FY16 budget will show an
end of year surplus of about $20,000 after some adjustments are made. They'll
be getting the old transmitter from KPFT and they'll refurbish it for WPFW and
they expect it to be operational before the end of the year. He reported that
WPFW had just finished their 21 day Fall on-air fund raiser and had come in at
just under 50% of their $350,000 goal for that on-air fund raiser. He said that
they had not offered premiums on their Fall on-air fund raiser because people
had complained about not getting the premiums in the past. He told the
committee that the station has just under $60,000 cash in bank. The station
plans to do an on-air fund raiser in December. He said that the station is
getting significant gains in community partnerships and major donors and they
are looking for more ways to raise more revenue off-air. He said that they are
trying to keep costs as low as possible.

The committee discussed the WPFW draft FY16 budget proposal. It was pointed out
that WPFW had shown a deficit of about $171,000 in FY15. There was a discussion
of using revenue to pay down some of the debt from FY15. The need to adjust the
budget to not show a negative bank balance was brought up, and the number of
months of negative cash flow projected in the draft FY16 budget was discussed.
The WPFW Treasurer noted that there was a problem with the budget creation
process last year, and other revenue was lumped into Listener Support. The WPFW
General Manager said that they are renting out part of their space and that
lease expires in March. He said that the lessee has considerably expanded the
amount of space they are using. WPFW will renegotiate that lease. It was noted
that the WPFW draft FY16 budget projected a tally of $400,000 for the recently
completed Fall on-air fund raiser, not $350,000 which means that the station's
FY16 budget would now show an end of year deficit of about $57,000.

Motion: (Bill Crosier) "To extend the time for this meeting by 15 minutes."
(Passed without objection) 10:34 PM (ET)

KPFT Budget - second review 10:35 PM (ET)

The committee discussed the KPFT draft FY16 budget proposal. KPFT is going to
be negotiating a labor contract. The station will do a December on-air fund
raiser. Their plan is that if one on-air fund raiser fails to meet its goal
then the amount it missed by will be added to the goal of the next on-air fund
raiser. There was a discussion of a freeze put on the hiring of new employees
by Pacifica. KPFT is trying to get people to fulfill pledges by using
electronic funds transfers and to become sustainers which will decrease credit
card charges and increase fulfillment rates.
Call for the Orders of the Day: (R. Paul Martin) 10:50 PM (ET)

Motion: (Brian Edwards-Tiekert) "To meet on November 4, 2015, starting at 8:30
PM (ET) beginning with a 45 minute executive session." (Passed 6 for, 1
against)

Adjourned 10:55 PM (ET)

Submitted by R. Paul Martin, Secretary.