March report

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Sudane Erato
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March report

Post by Sudane Erato »

The poor website is having some problems now, which Mizou is, or will be when RL issues (which surely come first), working on. So... as I FINALLY got the March finances report done (almost time to do April!!), I put it in my Google Docs if anyone would like to inspect it.

We were actually a tiny bit positive for the month. Yay!!

Sudane............................

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Sylvia Tamalyn
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Re: March report

Post by Sylvia Tamalyn »

Thanks, Sudane! That is good news :)

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Re: March report

Post by Guillaume Mistwalker »

Fantastic news, Sudane! And thanks for putting it up on Google Docs so that we can see it!

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Re: March report

Post by Bagheera »

Sudane Erato wrote: Sat Apr 29, 2017 11:55 am

The poor website is having some problems now, which Mizou is, or will be when RL issues (which surely come first), working on. So... as I FINALLY got the March finances report done (almost time to do April!!), I put it in my Google Docs if anyone would like to inspect it.

We were actually a tiny bit positive for the month. Yay!!

Sudane............................

Thank you, Sudane. I wanted to clarify one thing. It appears that the event costs are being weighed solely against the tips received. I believe the Chancellor has a line item for events. The reason for committing tips to events was to add to the balance available, not replace it.

If someone has a different understanding of how this rule is to be applied, please say so.

The vote for applying tip jar funds to citizen-created events came out of an RA meeting where Gaius proposed that CDS help underwrite citizen-created events. The decision, as I understood it, was specifically to be for events instigated by citizens - as an inducement to encourage citizens to create events in CDS.

If both line items - i.e. (1)the Chancellor's budget for events and (2) Tip Jar contributions - get rolled into one line, my concern is if the tip jar balance is applied against government created events (which have their own line item budget), the balance will always be at red, and no one will be encouraged.

Thank you again ! Splendid to be in the black !

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Tonight I Realize That a Cloud Sky
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- impromptu poem composed by Gen'i
as depicted in Yoshitoshi's 100 Aspects of the Moon
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Re: March report

Post by Sudane Erato »

Bagheera wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 7:51 am

Thank you, Sudane. I wanted to clarify one thing. It appears that the event costs are being weighed solely against the tips received. I believe the Chancellor has a line item for events. The reason for committing tips to events was to add to the balance available, not replace it.

If someone has a different understanding of how this rule is to be applied, please say so.

The vote for applying tip jar funds to citizen-created events came out of an RA meeting where Gaius proposed that CDS help underwrite citizen-created events. The decision, as I understood it, was specifically to be for events instigated by citizens - as an inducement to encourage citizens to create events in CDS.

If both line items - i.e. (1)the Chancellor's budget for events and (2) Tip Jar contributions - get rolled into one line, my concern is if the tip jar balance is applied against government created events (which have their own line item budget), the balance will always be at red, and no one will be encouraged.

Thank you again ! Splendid to be in the black !

Hmmm... consider me confused. I understand from this that we are trying to encourage citizen-sponsored or initiated events (citizens, I presume, OTHER than the Chancellor...). I also understand that the receipts from tips are to be highlighted and compared to events expenditures... and to your point, *expenditures for events which are citizen-sponsored or initiated*. But.... what distinguishes an expenditure for a citizen-sponsored event from an expenditure for a Chancellor-sponsored event? I think that an inspection of the monthly reports, especially the page which lists the Payment Requests, will not yield any clarity to help the Treasurer know what was intended. Suggesting that the Chancellor's budget for events and the Tip Jar receipts are merged together is like merging apples and oranges... a budget item is one thing and a receipt is another.

So... please. It sounds like this is a well-intentioned initiative. But like so many aspects of community management, the gulf between the concept and the feasible implementation is wide. If this reporting is not fully consistent with the intent of the RA act, please construct a *simple* and *clear* structure of receipts (tip jar receipts is simple and clear) and expenditures ("citizen-created events" not really simple nor clear) that the Treasurer can readily assemble and include in the monthly reports.

Sudane........................

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Re: March report

Post by Bagheera »

On December 15, 2016, the Chancellor Tor Karlsvalt submitted his proposed budget for the current term, which was approved by the RA in January, 2017.

The link to the Chancellor's approved budget for this term is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d ... _4/pubhtml

Within that budget are 3 line items for 1) Major Events, 2) Monthly Events, and 3) SL Birthday Planning with a total of L$94,200. Within that allocation is L$72,000 for Monthly Events.

aaaChancellorBudget-events.jpg

It appears, from looking at Page 4 of the CDS Financials report for March, 2017 - none of the budgeted funds are applied to events that have occurred so far this term, and only tips are applied to those expenses, even though all of them to date were events organized by the Chancellor.

aaa-Page4-EventsExpendituresas reported.jpg

It appears there are two options that might need further clarity - the first is that the tip income be presented as part of the overall Event budget - and second that the tip income be held to be applied as an offset to solely citizen sponsored events.

In neither instance should the tip income stand in as a replacement line item for ALL events in CDS without any tie-back to the budgeted amount allocated by the Chancellor at the beginning of his term (which was the way it appears it is being handled at present by looking at Page 4 of this report).

I hope this clears up any confusion. Thank you.

Sudane Erato wrote: Sun May 07, 2017 3:30 am
Bagheera wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 7:51 am

Thank you, Sudane. I wanted to clarify one thing. It appears that the event costs are being weighed solely against the tips received. I believe the Chancellor has a line item for events. The reason for committing tips to events was to add to the balance available, not replace it.

If someone has a different understanding of how this rule is to be applied, please say so.

The vote for applying tip jar funds to citizen-created events came out of an RA meeting where Gaius proposed that CDS help underwrite citizen-created events. The decision, as I understood it, was specifically to be for events instigated by citizens - as an inducement to encourage citizens to create events in CDS.

If both line items - i.e. (1)the Chancellor's budget for events and (2) Tip Jar contributions - get rolled into one line, my concern is if the tip jar balance is applied against government created events (which have their own line item budget), the balance will always be at red, and no one will be encouraged.

Thank you again ! Splendid to be in the black !

Hmmm... consider me confused. I understand from this that we are trying to encourage citizen-sponsored or initiated events (citizens, I presume, OTHER than the Chancellor...). I also understand that the receipts from tips are to be highlighted and compared to events expenditures... and to your point, *expenditures for events which are citizen-sponsored or initiated*. But.... what distinguishes an expenditure for a citizen-sponsored event from an expenditure for a Chancellor-sponsored event? I think that an inspection of the monthly reports, especially the page which lists the Payment Requests, will not yield any clarity to help the Treasurer know what was intended. Suggesting that the Chancellor's budget for events and the Tip Jar receipts are merged together is like merging apples and oranges... a budget item is one thing and a receipt is another.

So... please. It sounds like this is a well-intentioned initiative. But like so many aspects of community management, the gulf between the concept and the feasible implementation is wide. If this reporting is not fully consistent with the intent of the RA act, please construct a *simple* and *clear* structure of receipts (tip jar receipts is simple and clear) and expenditures ("citizen-created events" not really simple nor clear) that the Treasurer can readily assemble and include in the monthly reports.

Sudane........................

Usually I Dislike a Cloud Sky
Tonight I Realize That a Cloud Sky
Makes Me Appreciate the Light of the Moon
- impromptu poem composed by Gen'i
as depicted in Yoshitoshi's 100 Aspects of the Moon
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Re: March report

Post by Sudane Erato »

Bagheera wrote: Mon May 08, 2017 12:08 pm

It appears, from looking at Page 4 of the CDS Financials report for March, 2017 - none of the budgeted funds are applied to events that have occurred so far this term, and only tips are applied to those expenses, even though all of them to date were events organized by the Chancellor.

It appears there are two options that might need further clarity - the first is that the tip income be presented as part of the overall Event budget - and second that the tip income be held to be applied as an offset to solely citizen sponsored events.

In neither instance should the tip income stand in as a replacement line item for ALL events in CDS without any tie-back to the budgeted amount allocated by the Chancellor at the beginning of his term (which was the way it appears it is being handled at present by looking at Page 4 of this report).

Again, I think there are appropriate concepts here, without a practical grasp of actually administering money.

There is ONE account (one batch of money) used for administering the financial affairs of the CDS. (Actually, there is a second one, shown on the Balance Sheet... the Reserves. But they aren't normally touched.) Tier, tip receipts and other revenues come into that account. Tier payments to LL, plus everything listed on the report sheet that Bags displays, comes out of that account. That's it. There is, separately, the budget submitted by the Chancellor and approved by the RA. But the role of the Budget is to act as a guideline for decisions made by those who spend and receive the money, and a forecasting tool for all to have some idea of how the finances will stand.

When Guillaume asked me to report on tips revenues in a way that would show that the tips were not being used for the other general expenses of the community, the best I could do was to show a descriptive and informational section on the Payments page displaying how much was received in tips (also visible on the Income/Expense page) and how much was expended on events, visible also on the Income/Expense page and detailed on the Payments page. This is purely an informational comparison.

So I honestly have no idea what " that the tip income be held to be applied as an offset to solely citizen sponsored events" means. The money is collected and is in the account. Requests come in for events expenses, and they are paid. For myself, I do not have access to anything other than the specifics of what the money is used for... all of which information is displayed on the Payments page.

So what this statement means....

"It appears, from looking at Page 4 of the CDS Financials report for March, 2017 - none of the budgeted funds are applied to events that have occurred so far this term, and only tips are applied to those expenses, even though all of them to date were events organized by the Chancellor."

I have no idea. I suspect that what is suggested here is some notion of money coming out of different accounts, or being paid by different people, for categories of expenditures which are more complex than the CDS record keeping. If, looking at the list of payments for events, you are able to determine different categories, different labeling, different anything, about these events... then please make sure that this information gets communicated. It's not clear to me.

"In neither instance should the tip income stand in as a replacement line item for ALL events in CDS without any tie-back to the budgeted amount allocated by the Chancellor at the beginning of his term (which was the way it appears it is being handled at present by looking at Page 4 of this report)."

Tip income is not standing in for anything! It's simply revenue into the bank account. I'll happily remove the lines showing tips revenues and events expenses... information only!... if they are going to cause so much confusion.

Sudane......................

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Re: March report

Post by Lilith Ivory »

I guess what Bags means is the following:

The RA decided that the income created from tips (777 L$ in march) should be used to sponsor privately initiated citizens events. Like for example if citizen A wants to organize a birthday party at the Schloss and asks the chancellor if CDS could reimburse part of what is needed to pay the DJ.

Unfortunately, and please correct me it I am wrong, the discussion about Gaius proposal got somehow stuck somewhere in the middle as none of our citizens showed much interest in this topic. So the RA decided about the use of tip jar money but without determining conditions for reimbursement.

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