WBAI LSB Report on the First Two Quarters of FY10
In accordance with Article Seven Section 3. A of the Pacifica bylaws the WBAI LSB has reviewed the station's actual income and expenditures as compared to the FY10 budget. This review was based on the Consolidated Income Statement - March 31 2010 issued by the Pacifica National Office and with line 66 of that document corrected to reflect the actual rent paid.
Total Net Income was projected to be $89,815 by now in the FY10 budget, on the spreadsheet the station is showing an actual net loss of $187,995, which is worse than budget by $277,810. The WBAI LSB finds that WBAI is still in a financial decline, and even though the rate of decline may not be as sharp as previously the station is still not self sustaining and it is still a net financial drain on Pacifica.
Income
For the first half of FY10 Listener Support is less than budgeted by $195,165. Total Revenues are less than budgeted by $259,584.
The Listener Support line was impacted by the invoices for the Fall ‘thon going out a couple of months later than they should have, and then going out without BREs. Also, for the first half of FY10 the station was not taking its installments payments. We are told that the station is now taking steps to reinstitute installment payments on a regular basis.
Major Donor Income is listed as $0 for the first two quarters. The budget had projected $39,000 in that line and so we're worse than budget by $39,000 on that line.
Community Events Income and Crafts / Fair Income combine whatever off air fund raising is done and the Saturday morning theater ticket sales. Community Events Income is showing up as better than budgeted by $69,305, while Crafts / Fair Income is showing up as being $111,000 worse than budget. If we combine both of those lines we find that we're $41,695 worse than budget. The Crafts / Fair Income line is where the Saturday morning ticket sales should be going, we have been told by the CFO that the Saturday morning ticket sales will have a separate line in the FY11 budget template.
We have been informed that the FY10 budget projection for the Saturday morning ticket sales was too high because it seems to have been based on some erroneous information; some ordinary Listener Support money seems to have been included with the ticket sales income when the projection for the ticket sales was being prepared for the FY10 budget.
Web Site Income was worse than budget by $24,889. Clearly the projection for that was significantly off; we have only realized 41% of what had been projected. The LSB and Management need to find out why it's so far off and not over budget it for next year.
Clearly WBAI's fulfillment rate has to be raised. The installments need to be run regularly. The major problems impacting WBAI's fulfillment rate in the first two quarters need to be addressed. The Community Events and Major Donor lines are seriously underperforming. Together they account for $63,889 of the budget shortfall. Part of this is probably due to the few people left working at WBAI after the cuts in November 2008. For the FY11 budget we need to determine more accurately what can be raised in those areas and project only that.
Expenses
Total Expenses are $18,226 worse than budget.
The item “Lab Election,” which should be “LSB Election,” is worse than budget by $46,315 mostly because ballots had to be sent out a second time for last year's election. That should not happen again for this coming election, but that's a $46,315 expense that had not been in the FY10 budget.
Outside Svs-Payroll, Pension is $22,358 worse than budget, and that's more than ten times what was projected for the FY10 budget.
The Telephone expense line is worse than budget by $19,839. The station was supposed to have had a new telephone system installed early in FY10 and that was supposed to have saved money over the previous telephone expenses. That system was not installed by the end of the second quarter.
The rent line is over budget by $13,597.
Outstanding Questions
Fund Drive Expenses are worse than budget by $10,682, which is also more than 10 times the budget line for this. We have asked Management why this is and are awaiting an answer.
Crafts Fair Expenses, which are actually the expenses for the Saturday morning ticket sales, are $9,727 worse than budget. We have asked about this item and have been told that the arrangement with the person doing the ticket sales is on a flat fee basis. We are expecting a report from the Business Manager regarding the details of this arrangement. We have been told that there is no contract or formal description of this arrangement in writing.
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