W2S transition issues & paperwork

[fgoodwin]

Our charter organization (a church) sponsors a pack and a troop. When a Webelos crosses over from the pack into the troop, is he considered a transfer ($1 fee) or is a new registration required ($10 registration fee)?

 

I'm thinking a new registration is required. I've always thought of a "transfer" as being between packs or between troops, but not from a pack to a troop. Is there anything official on this?

 

Also, lets assume that the Webelos cross-over AFTER the pack recharters, and the boys rechartered in the pack. Should the troop send in new registrations for the boys? If so, won't the boys be double-registered?

 

In my view, the troop should send in new registrations, regardless of what the pack did. The fact is, the boys are no longer Cub Scouts, they are Boy Scouts, and s/b registered as Boy Scouts as soon as possible after cross-over.

 

If they were rechartered in the pack, in my view the double-registration is an issue for the council and maybe the pack, since the boys are no longer Cub Scouts, but its not an issue for the troop.

 

The parents, of course, have another issue: if they rechartered in the pack, they already paid dues once and won't want to pay again. If the pack pro-rated the dues to cross-over, then the parents need to pay the troop for the rest of the year. If the pack charged the full annual dues, then the equitable thing to do is transfer a pro-rated share to the troop bank account.

 

How do your units handle this?

 

Fred Goodwin

Troop Committee and BSRT Commish

[Lisabob]

We always do a transfer. The council registration fee registers the boy with the BSA for the year. He is not new to scouting when he transitions from one phase of the BSA program to the other. As you say, it is common in our area for packs to recharter prior to cross-overs. So most Webelos II are rechartered in the pack. The transfer switches them to the troop. I've sat next to our council registrar as she changes the cross-overs from webelos to boy scouts in scoutnet. It's just a simple thing to switch unit/program affiliation.

 

As you probably know, unit dues are a different matter than BSA registration fees. Some packs and troops in our area charge a pro-rated amount, others don't. When questions arise, we direct parents back to the pack they came from, for clarification on that pack's policies. Since the troop's leaders do not run the pack, we don't get involved in telling any of the local packs how to structure their membership fees.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

[fgoodwin]

Lisa, that does help. So you treat all cross-overs as transfers, even those who come from an unaffiliated pack?

[Lisabob]

Yes. It doesn't matter if they come from an affiliated pack or from across the country. If they're registered in the BSA system, there is no need for a new registration when the cross from cub scouts to boy scouts.

[gwd-scouter]

fgoodwin - it may depend on when the pack rechartered those Scouts and when they crossover to your troop.

 

An example: In our Council, unit recharters are due in February. We have Packs that cross their Webelos over in February, before they send in their recharter, and therefore don't reregister them. It is then up to the receiving Troop to get those boys on their charter and will need to pay the full registration fee. Then again, some Packs don't do crossovers until April or May. Those guys would be $1 transfers.

 

The guys that just crossed over to our Troop came from two packs. One, kept the guys on the charter because they didn't cross over until April. We just sent in the $1 transfer on those guys. The other group crossed in the end of March. I was going to send in the $1 transfer for them as well, but found out their Pack never registered them with their rechartering in February, so we paid the full registration.

 

 

[evmori]

Lisabob is correct. It should be a $1 transfer.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Think of it this way. A cub scout (webelos) is registered with the pack; he has a BSA ID number. When he leaves Cub Scouts and becomes a Boy Scout, he transfers from the pack to the troop.

 

Even in the example above, where the charter is at the end of February and he joins the troop before that date, I would see that as a transfer (for one or two weeks) and then a renewal with the troop for the annual fee. It may get sticky if, say in this circumstance, the troop completed and submitted it's recharter before the crossover or pack recharter, but again, the scout's registration is valid until when the pack has rechartered. Pay the $1 and then submit the annual re-registration fee. It gets confusing here because only because we "percieve" this to be an extra $1. In reality it is the same cost as if it occurred at any other time in the recharter year.

 

Our council used to do it's recharters in February, but not do it at the end of December. This has worked well for our units.

 

 

[ScoutNut]

Yep, the $10 registration is a National fee, not a unit one. It gives them membership in any unit of the BSA for one year.

 

Boys crossing from a Cub Scout Pack to a Boy Scout Troop fill out a new registration form, and pay a $1 transfer fee.

 

 

[gwd-scouter]

I certainly understand how you all see it that way. Maybe I didn't explain it very clearly and perhaps this isn't a problem for fgoodwin.

 

We received Webelos crossovers in late March from one Pack. That Pack sent in their recharter in February without those boys being reregistered. Therefore, those boys' annual registration expired. We had to send in $10 registration on those guys.

[ghermanno]

gwd-scouter,

 

You are correct in what YOU had to do. The error was on the Pack. They, in effect, transferred two boys that were NOT in the Pack. The problem then becomes yours.

Do you A: Charge the youths $10 as new Scouts

 

or

 

B: Cross them over as Webelos and therefore transfer them to your Troop?

 

Also, do your boys pay every year or does the Troop recharter them from dues/money earning projects?

 

The policy I used when I was directly involved (CM and ASM) was transfer fee for Webelos and new registration for anyone not registered. The Troop paid for recharter from dues/fundraising so the boys did not pay $10 each year. Never had an unregistered Webelos transfer.

 

YiS,

 

Rick