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THINK ABOUT IT
Thirteenth in a
series of newsletters by former Local 150 Financial Secretary Ray Connors
WHERE
DOES OUR MONEY GO?
We all know what a budget
is, right? Unless we were born rich or have won the lottery, we all
live by one.
Officers of Local 150 have what is called a
fiduciary responsibility to the local. This means that ultimately
they are responsible for what happens with the local’s money. For
this reason, I once asked Bill Dugan to see a copy of Local 150’s
budget. After looking at me a little strangely, he tossed a balance
sheet to me and said that was it.
A balance sheet is not a budget; it is an
accounting document that lists an organization’s total assets and
total liabilities. I explained to him that I didn’t mean a balance
sheet — I meant a budget. You know, what kinds of expenses are
projected for the future and how much money is set aside to spend
for specific things each day, or week, or month, or year; how our
money is allocated to pay for Local 150’s expenses. A budget just
like each of us works with at home.
And as incredible as it seems, the fact is that
Local 150 does not work within any kind of budget! Millions of your
dollars coming in day after day, and month after month, and year
after year and not one penny of it is budgeted. No wonder Local 150
is plagued with cost overruns and unexplained expenditures!
Joe Ward and Team 150 are appalled by this lack
of fiscal responsibility, and pledge to, for the first time in Local
150’s history, create and maintain a budget that will provide
accountability for all union expenses. This budget will be read at
each district union meeting so that all members will know just where
our money goes.
Now that, Mr. Dugan, is what I was talking
about!
And I can’t leave the subject of budgets without
one additional comment about Local 150’s current administration’s
unique outlook on budgeting. By now we have all heard Bill Dugan and
his staff bragging that our new training site “came in under
budget”. It’s not really such a spectacular feat, considering that
there wasn’t a budget to begin with. Their “budget” was contrived
after the cost began to dramatically exceed the amount that Bill
Dugan knew the membership would willingly accept.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all budget like
that? Then when we don’t have enough money to pay our bills, we
could just take it from someone else!
THINK
ABOUT IT.
Think about
it #14
Think about
it #15
Think about
it #16
Think about
it #17 |
