Delegates Pass Dues Amendment
Delegates to the 92nd annual Kiwanis Capital District Convention overwhelming passed an amendment to the Capital District bylaws, which changed the amount of District dues to $32.00 per year, effective October 1, 2010. The previous Bylaw statement set District dues at $16.00 per year. Votes in favor of the dues increase exceeded those against the increase by better than two-to-one.
The motion to increase District dues was brought before a packed House of Delegates during Session One, held Saturday afternoon. The 322 delegates significantly outnumbered delegate counts for the last several conventions, and soundly rejected two proposed amendments to the original motion.
The first of two proposed amendments to the original motion moved to implement a partial increase of $12.00 per year effective October 1, 2010, with the remaining $4.00 per year to take effect on October 1, 2011. The split would have provided funds to match a forecast budgetary break-even point, as presented in pre-voting educational materials, with the balance becoming available in the following year to fund more strategic initiatives and restoration of lost services. The proposal failed to pass a majority vote by a substantial marginal. The second proposal moved to delay the full dues increase by one year, to October 1, 2011. That proposal failed by an even wider margin.
The floor remained open to discussion but no one rose to speak against the original motion. The question was subsequently called and voted upon in a written ballot, with a final tally above the two-thirds majority required to pass the amendment.
Immediate Past Governor Tom Ganse commented that, in passing the amendment, the District Membership gave the Finance Committee and District Board the opportunity to restore over a decade's worth of lost services and to establish a solid financial foundation from which to move into a sound fiscal future. "The Finance Committee will be examining a number of concepts and ideas to use the additional funds to provide more value to the District Membership" Ganse said.
The Finance Committee will provide a proposed budget for the 2010-2011 administrative year, to be voted on at a District Board meeting to be held on September 11.
