Report of the Treasurer
Chebucto Community Net Society
Annual General Meeting 2004
The financial statement for 2004 is based on an independent financial
report prepared by a professional accountant.
Unlike last year I am not able to report a surplus. However, at the last
AGM we did indicate we would be incurring additional expenditures in
keeping with our tenth anniversary and an equipment upgrade. In addition
to these items we also had increased staffing costs. At the last AGM we
reported that the CCN Boards over the last few years have been
accumulating a surplus as a result of projects which have been carried
out. It was these funds which were used for the extraordinary expenses.
For the most part the additional costs were associated with public
relations/publicity for our Tenth Anniversary as well as with additional
staffing and new equipment. The other expenditure which the Board
incurred which was not in the budget was our membership in ACORN. The
advantage to CCN in being a part of this organization is best explained by
our VP and Technical Chair. We would like to point out that the
additional expenditures associated with our Anniversary will not be
incurred again for the foreseeable future.
Our overall revenue was down from 2003 by 3.5%. I should point out that
we had an exceptionally good year in 2003. However, if we remove the
extraordinary expenditures we would have had a balanced budget.
Much of the surplus noted above has been derived from projects which
Chebucto applied to undertake. Some of these were associated with the
Community Access Program. Funding accrued to Chebucto because much of the
work was undertaken by volunteers. For instance we managed to earn
approximately $15,000 from the National Conference which we hosted in
Halifax. The intention of this Board as well as previous Boards is that
these surplus funds be held for special projects or in case of unforeseen
difficulties. These funds are held in interest bearing accounts which
resulted in additional income over the past year of $758.
We anticipate the level of spending for staff next year will return to pre
2004 levels. The Board has had a review of staff needs with a view to
determining how we cope with the ongoing technical demands which are often
too onerous to be addressed by volunteers. You will see that we have
reduced our allotment for staff considerably for next year. This figure
will be carefully monitored and if revenues are not sufficient we will be
able to reduce costs accordingly. The budget for 2005 is balanced and
unlike 2004 the Board intends to return to the practice of having current
revenues match expenditures thus if the revenues drop so, too, will our
spending.
We continue to be pleased with our "credit card transaction" arrangement
with IATS TicketMaster through which we have been able to reduce the level
of fees we were being charged. Further, we find the service to be very
efficient. As we pointed out last year the focus of TicketMaster is on
small business and not-for-profits.
The Board has been involved in strategic planning process which we hope
will result in a invigorated approach to increasing membership - both
individuals/families and organizations. And at this point we are
optimistic about our future.
Treasurer's 2004 Statement and 2005
Budget
Statement of Income and Surplus
Balance Sheet
Bernard Hart
Treasurer
Chebucto Community Net