Minutes for the special National Finance Committee meeting August 19, 2013.

Meeting convened at 8:38 PM (ET) a quorum being present, the Chair and Secretary being present.
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Attending: Jim Boyd, John Cromshow, R. Paul Martin (Secretary), Tony Norman, Michael Novick, Tracy Rosenberg (Chair), Raul Salvador (CFO), Richard Uzzell, Barbara Whipperman, also attending was KPFK General Manager Bernard Duncan.
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Agenda:

1. Roll Call
2. Approve agenda
3. Approve outstanding minutes
4. Start review of KPFK budget
5. Additional meeting for KPFK FY14 budget if necessary
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Motion: (Richard Uzzell) “To approve the agenda.” (Passed without objection)

Owing to echoes on the line the Chair asked the committee members to hang up and call back again, which everyone did.

Motion: (Tracy Rosenberg) “To approve the minutes of the August 13, 2013, meeting.” (Passed without objection)

Start review of KPFK budget 8:52 PM (ET)

The KPFK General Manager said that in this budget the station’s revenue was projected to be slightly higher than last year because the most recent on-air fund raisers have come in higher than goal and KPFK’s signal range is almost twice as large as it was last year. Car donations are up. He also believes that there is a modest economic upturn happening. The station will also be doing more mailings this year and pursuing other off-air fund raising ideas. The fulfillment rate is estimated to be 82% while it is projected that the station will spend 89 days pitching in FY14. He said that KPFK does pay too much for premiums, and he wants to reduce that cost, using more premiums from the Pacifica Radio Archives. He also said that he would be reducing staffing costs in FY14.

The KPFK Treasurer noted that the KPFK LSB had approved this budget, although there were members f the local Finance Committee who had disagreements with it. He said that the cost of premiums was too high and needed to be reduced. He said that the budget was reasonable.

The Chair noted that the NFC was in receipt of a minority report on this budget proposal.

The committee discussed the budget proposal. There are currently 23 FTES at KPFK with one part time employee. There will be one or two FTES cut, possibly by attrition, for FY14. There will be a slight increase in payroll due to raises for the remaining Paid Staff. The health benefits will be higher because five more people will be qualifying for benefits. It was noted that column S in the budget spreadsheet which says “FY 2012 Audited” does not represent figures from the audit. The possibility of lowering the depreciation in the budget was discussed. The committee discussed other considerations of the budget proposal. The committee discussed the points brought up in the minority report about the draft KPFK FY14 budget. There were disagreements regarding the actuals between the draft budget proposal and the figures given in the minority report. The need for financial documents from the National Office was recognized. The CFO said he has a draft of the FY12 financial statements, the audit is almost done, and he said he would be able to give the committee some FY13 numbers.

The committee discussed setting another meeting date to continue to deal with the KPFK draft FY14 budget proposal. The committee decided to meet again on August 28, 2013, to resume consideration of that budget proposal.

Adjourned 10:56 PM (ET)

Submitted by R. Paul Martin, Secretary.