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Council finances


Muttsy

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5 hours ago, MattR said:

Sorry, but I'm still stuck on the million dollar building. I went to the county records to see how much our council office is worth because it is not anywhere close to a million dollars. It is a very old house that had some interior walls moved around.  Anyway, it's worth roughly $1000. Five years ago it was about $2000. Sounds more like the principle on a loan but this is the county property records. Using the gis tool I found it's wedged into a corner of a city park that's worth over $12M. I suspect it used to be the caretakers house for the park.

Anyway, I still don't understand the need for a big scout office.

More importantly, I don't think the size of the office nor the size of the council is nearly as important as the people that are hired and their motivation. Hire good people, give them the motivation to make a quality program (as opposed to getting gold epaulets) and let them figure out what's needed.

 

I cannot quite picture an office building worth only $1000.  I was looking at four season tents and good ones are $600 - $800.   Our council service center cost several hundred thousand to build in the 1990’s and is now worth more than a million or so.  The council is building a new mess hall that is far more than a million dollars.  So I think that a million dollars to build a Scout service center would be a rock bottom price. 

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28 minutes ago, 1980Scouter said:

So doing some research. My LC SE makes more in salary than the governor of my state. Quite a bit more.

How is this just and fair to all who donate money to the council thinking it will serve scouts needs?

I am not at all surprised, based on my limited knowledge. Anyone have salary figures for the big Local Councils? I randomly know a couple top execs are near $500,000. I guess they would be considered to be running significantly large companies. 

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1 hour ago, 1980Scouter said:

So doing some research. My LC SE makes more in salary than the governor of my state. Quite a bit more.

How is this just and fair to all who donate money to the council thinking it will serve scouts needs?

"Just and fair" depends on the estimation of your LC board members -- many of whom probably

  • have earned 10 times that in a year,
  • donated that and more to your LC,
  • have seen the SE perform under difficult circumstances,
  • have probably performed a national search and were not satisfied with the performance of other SE's whose pay was less.

Regarding the governor of your state, for that position, he/she probably:

  • didn't have to relocate from out-of-state,
  • has amassed wealth, so accepting smaller salary for public service for a few years is of little risk,
  • has a publicly funded residence at your state capital,
  • has secured his job for at least one term.

Please don't shoot the messenger. I've met a few of the board members -- attended one meeting with the venturing youth -- and have some idea of how they think. For good or ill, they do not use the same rubric that you or I would.

Edited by qwazse
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45 minutes ago, ThenNow said:

I am not at all surprised, based on my limited knowledge. Anyone have salary figures for the big Local Councils? I randomly know a couple top execs are near $500,000. I guess they would be considered to be running significantly large companies. 

I would disagree.  My council is large.  But the budget (IRS 990 for 2019 is the source) shows revenue of $14.2 MM and expenses of $13.5 MM with assets of $77.7 MM

Compensation for the SE / CEO is $459K (W2) and $159K - other

The Income and Expense is definitely not a large corporation.  

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21 minutes ago, qwazse said:

"Just and fair" depends on the estimation of your LC board members -- many of whom probably

  • have earned 10 times that in a year,
  • donated that and more to your LC,
  • have seen the SE perform under difficult circumstances,
  • have probably performed a national search and were not satisfied with the performance of other SE's whose pay was less.

Regarding the governor of your state, for that position, he/she probably:

  • didn't have to relocate from out-of-state,
  • has amassed wealth, so accepting smaller salary for public service for a few years is of little risk,
  • has a publicly funded residence at your state capital,
  • has secured his job for at least one term.

Please don't shoot the messenger. I've met a few of the board members -- attended one meeting with the venturing youth -- and have some idea of how they think. For good or ill, they do not use the same rubric that you or I would.

Yet sadly 53 years of suffering from BSA personnel is worth about $750 per year. 

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  • 1 month later...

Saw this on Facebook:

Merger Announcement - Two northeast Mississippi councils, Pushmataha Area #691 (Columbus, MS) and Yocona Area #748 (Tupelo, MS), have voted to merge effective April 1st, 2022. For the rest of this year the new council will operate as Yocona - Pushmataha Council #748 and the two lodges, Watonala 169 and Chicksa 202, will continue to operate independently. This fall there will be a competition to propose and select a new council name and a new lodge name and totem. The new council serves the 22 counties of Northeast Mississippi and is headquartered in Tupelo, MS.

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11 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

And so it begins.

Speaking from the 10,000 foot view ... council mergers were needed for a long time, but even 80 sounds high.  While California should be at least two councils ... or more, other states might be less than one.  I was thinking around 50 was approximately right. 

Edited by fred8033
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26 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

Speaking from the 10,000 foot view ... council mergers were needed for a long time, but even 80 sounds high.  While California should be at least two councils ... or more, other states might be less than one.  I was thinking around 50 was approximately right. 

My concerns are the following.

1. Service. I am already not getting the help I need from my current council. I have not had a dedicated ( i.e. only responsible for 1 district) DE in over 10 years except for a brief 4 month period when my district and 2 others merged together. What will the service be like when districts will be a lot larger.

2. Camps. I have been told that under the Churchill plan, there will be one Scout camp covering about 160 mile radius.  Some that means for some units, especially Cub Scout units from those councils that only approve Cub Camping at their campgrounds, will have longer drives. It may kill Cub camping.

3. Loss of Volunteer Support. Trust me, losing longtime, experienced, and dedicated volunteers sucks big time because they create major leadership vacuums. That is my district at the moment.

I hope my concerns are wrong, but "I got a bad feeling about this."

 

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