Treasury

This is ancient Stuff. No Treasurer has convened a proper Treasury Committee since 2012.

Some Context:

Our Coop is very small for having 5 houses, effectively 8 people per house. Unique house characters result in a defacto Federation in which Castle & L-Hús are naturally auxiliary dwelling units of Ekklesia and Main House Buildings respectively. 100 year old buildings have character, and most of us don't know how different life is in other houses, so each House has a Fund allotted on a per occupant bases to cover needs unique to their priorities. So far Environmental Sustainability is the only Special Interest that Members have felt passionate enough about to raise independent funds, but any House can do that.

Our Operations Budget concerns MSCs General Account, that receives all Membership Dues paid as Rent, and various fees, and uses this to pay all bills each year. Defacto the Treasury Committee structured MSC's Budget so that $40,000/ year goes toward Major Projects. There tendency for contracted Managers to seek to consume this to merely Maintain the status quote, and for Sustainability Advocates to insist that Major Projects Improve the quality & efficiency of our buildings as comfortable shelter. Most years the Major Project(s), are under $40,000 so a remainder goes into Reserves for the scale of transformative Major Projects required to build a new building, buy a building or Remodel an existing building to function better. Thus Spending Reserves does not disrupt Operations, buy our Operations must sustain a flow of revenue into reserves sufficient to grow the cooperative such that our Assets (grateful contributing Members) exceed our liabilities (decaying old buildings -- any building over 20 years old is old).

Free Management Library    Financial    Risk Management

"The Accountant's Manifesto" --  you can find a copy at the UM Law library. Here's the call number: KF1355.A73 .Z9c No.15

A Treasurer should look beyond collecting laundry money that is about equivalent to a Supplies budget and flagging costs that rose vs those that fell each year. You get some help in this. House Coordinators asses house needs and have eyes out to solve house problems, Supply Clerk streamlines procurement of staples for cleaning, Sustainability Director strategizes to deliver utility with less energy (thus cost), President responds to the most urgent matters to keep operations going. A contracted property Manager should provide accurate Reports, but

Our game has been to not waste supplies, get what we use a lot of at better prices, discontinue paying for destructive forms of maintenance (sales oriented people who disrespect old homes or durable appliances), define constructive durable maintenance, and get volunteers to maintain better for less than people in int just for the money. People "not in it for the money" tend not to cost less, but if they value us they lend more valuable skill to customize to our needs. Finding these people requires effort. The result is incremental change at less cost, to reserve funds to correct systemic problems that old houses have after years of partial repairs.

Our next game must be to leverage these reserves to solve those problems that conventional maintenance will not. This requires plans and designs that consider what is peculiar to each house, how energy & moisture flows through it, and how we actually use it. Our habits are both particular to student coops and peculiar to us. As we redefine a house, we redefine who wants to live there and thus we redefine part of ourselves. This requires a Master Plan and Vision that goes beyond Treasury because MSC is not in real estate for the money. IMC survives as MSC thanks to E&K Houses merging in 1970's. That this somehow survives with low rent is amazing given that we are burdened with corporate property tax (Riverton Coops don't, Austin Coops are tax exempt...), but we fail to embody the vibrant energy of the cooperative movement because so much of our resources devote to simply keeping up with house needs. To merely increase rent poses ethical considerations, as the fee and rent structure has an inherently moral dimension of fairness, and promoting values of egalitarianism and cooperation. Comparing MSC to other successful cooperatives, I don't expect a house to sustain shared meal preparation with under 20 residents.

Cornell University Coops: 10 to 35 members/house.

Ann Arbor, MI Coops: 11 to 20 to huge

Oberlin Student Cooperative Association: 12 to 200  "An Oberlin co–op isn’t just a place to eat and live. It is a home that is defined, built, and sustained by its members."

Berkeley Student Coops: 17 to 140

The Students' Coop:  29 Members/house in 18 rooms

Chair: Frank Summerfield (Treasurer)

Members: Frank Summerfield (Chair), Tim McDevitt (Past Treasurer), Brian Ashman (Sustainability Committee), David Fritsche, Shabana Naik (Past Treasurer & Supply Clerk)

This standing committee will hopefully improve the quality of BOD decisions by providing reports tailored to key decisions at hand.  Some reports can't be posted online for confidentiality reasons, but others will help coop members understand our finances.  Each cooperative member holds a share of MSC corresponding to the room they lease.  If you want to know where the money comes from and where it goes, these are the people to ask.

This committee really needs to meet because the chronic problem with residents in default has infiltrated our Board of Directors. As President, Brian Ashman speaking 7-20-2012, it bothers me to be expected to rely on individuals who are themselves avoiding accountability for their debts to ensure payments are collected.  Efforts to get details from our General Manager who himself has Debt to MSC, suggest that at least 2 Directors are in "Default" and both have sought to be compensated as Treasurers.  This is why I feel contracting Common Properties Management Coop to Manage MSC finances is needed ASAP.  Understandably CPMC would rather Full Management contract, yet it seems defining how best to Manage MSC deserves some considerable discussion with Member input that I haven't time to organize alone.

Notes below are fairly older.

First Treasury Meeting of 2010:

Mitesh and Dennis demonstrated how to access records and generate reports in Quickbooks.  These financial records go back to Apr 1, 2006, which was the start of MSCs fiscal year back then. Older records are on paper files in the Main Attic archival room.  Receipts journals filed in the main office document rent, lease, and credit payments each month.  Excel versions of the receipts journals are on the new computer under "Old financial reports 97 98".  Dennis may have a CD with older than 1997 at his home office. For confidentiality reasons, not even BOD members are to hold copies out of the office unless personal identifies have been removed.  We are still discussing proper policy to protect record integrity and personal information, yet involve more committee members actively in analyzing our finances.

If all rooms are fully occupied, with double occupancies, and parking income all received each month the MSC has a potential income of about $12500.  Approaching this full income, and minimizing basic operational expenses are keys to making more net income available for improvements and potential amenities (eg. Internet, parking lot security cameras, vegetable gardens).

In attendance: David, Brian, Dennis, Mitesh, Sid, Nirab

Unexpected Absences: Tim, Shreta

Expected Absences: Shabana, Yisak