High gas prices hurting units?

[Eagledad]

Hi All

 

Last night the topic of how the high gas prices are really biting into personal budges for troop travel. This will be a topic at the next committee meeting.

 

Have your units felt the pressure as well? Are you doing anything to relieve the pain from gas, so to speak?

 

Barry

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Nothing yet, but if is an issue, the price of the outing may be increased a few dollars to reimburse the drivers. That would seem to be fair. it might be a good PLC agenda item.

[mk9750]

We have asked the SPL to add this topic to next week's PLC. We don't currently reimburse drivers for local campouts (20 minutes or so each way), but we have lost money on recent longer outings, including summer camp, by reimbursing for actual gas expenses.

 

I suspect that the PLC will elect to accrue a portion of their next fundraiser to a gasoline account, and pay drivers out of that. It's how they have decided to handle other expenses like the cost of replacing climbing ropes, cleaning supplies for rifles and shotguns, and replacing kayaking paddles and such.

 

MArk

[Eagle1973]

We only reimburse the trailer tow'r. The rest of us write the mileage off on our taxes.

[FScouter]

IRS allows 37 1/2 cents per mile as the cost of operating a car. Our committee reimburses 10 cents per mile for any trip or campout. We claim the balance of 27 1/2 cents per mile as a tax deduction. Some drivers don't bother writing a ticket to claim the 10 cents reimbursement.

[dan]

You cannot claim 37 1/2 cents for driving for scouts.

Unless they changed it in the last year. Last year I believe it was 15 cent a mile. I have the paperwork at home that explains this. I obtained it from a roundtable.

[EagleInKY]

Dan beat me to it. Charitable miles are claimed at $0.15 per mile. That's a good standard for units to use, if they are going to do reimbursements. Of course, the parents cannot claim it if they are reimbursed for it.

[Eagle69]

According to IRS publication 8686 the amount you can write off for chairitable mileage is 14 cents. I personally think that is too low with gas going for $2.00 in some area and the price of cars being what they are, but until somebody changes the rules 14 cents is it.

[EagleInKY]

Thanks Eagle69, I was going off of memory.... which fails me more and more these days.

[FScouter]

14 cents is correct as to how much can be deducted for charitable driving. The point is the cost of driving a car is a lot more than the cost of gasoline. The full cost to drive a load of kids 250 miles round trip to summer camp is closer to $100 rather than the price of a tank of gas. IRS recognizes 37 1/2 cents as the cost to operate a car and that can be deducted for business purposes, though not for Scouting as a volunteer.

[johndaigler]

All good points, guys, but shouldn't someone around here be piping up about how money doesn't impact quality scouting???

 

We're hearing the same stuff about transporting Scouts - and it's just Cub day outings. Everything is a bit more complicated - not undoable, just complicated.

 

Imagine the impact on Units and Scouters already starving for cash . . .

 

jd(This message has been edited by johndaigler)

[rdomz]

Aside from who get how much, our group is starting to limit the travel distance for our outings. This presents a double edge sword, for it forces us to discover areas to camp in our local area, but limits us to the sites we can go to and things that we can do, this aside from availability.

 

Our troop is experiencing a secondary issue aside from high gas prices. Our troop resides in an urban area and Ive been noticing that we are losing (not gaining) individuals with trailer towing capabilities. I see this as a issue to be address by troops if gas prices go higher. Im planning to open a new discussion on this issue.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Convince the PLC they should move the troop towards embracing Leave No Trace camping and soon you can sell that trailer to somebody else

[packsaddle]

Down here in the South, nearly every family has a pickup truck. The mileage is so bad that...well, what's a few cents more anyway? And never a problem getting a tow for the infernal trailer. I never ask for gas money, I'm honored to be allowed to have fun with the troop. The scoutmaster, however, tries to reimburse us for the fuel when the troop can. It just isn't that important to me.

[flyingember]

nearly every campout I've driven too I've never been reimbursed, but then again, I've never paid for food in four years that I know of (the scout's food comes from a food fund they pay into), nor for any other fees (camping fees come from fundraising).

 

so I never really complain.

 

Though I don't drive much anyways, we have more than enough drivers and seats so my not driving is better on us, less cars to mess with. And I get to talk with the scouts the whole way down as I try to ride in a different car each time.