President’s Message – September 2018

As you’ve probably noticed, St Mary’s Church has been renovating the Hall where we meet monthly. After starting renovations, problems were discovered with the septic system that needed to be addressed. As a result, they had to spend some of their renovation money on septic repairs which left them short of the money needed to complete the hall renovations. They have asked all the groups that rent the hall if they would assist with their funding shortfall. The Management Team discussed this request at our last meeting and passed the following motion:

The Management Committee proposes that we make a one-time renovation contribution of $600 to St Mary’s church for improvements to our meeting facility. This works out to $5 per member.

The $600 would come from our reserve fund. As I noted in my February message, “when the Club’s 2017 financial statements were presented last December, we had a very healthy reserve fund. Thanks to prudent management from previous management teams, this fund has been growing over the years. Since we are a non-profit social club however, the Management Committee decided that this amount exceeds our contingency needs. As a result, the Committee agreed that we retain a reserve of approximately $4,000. The remainder will be used over the next few years to provide a larger than usual subsidy for “some of our wonderful social events”. The Management Committee unanimously agreed that helping the church with its renovation costs is an appropriate use of a small portion of our reserve fund. St. Mary’s charges us a modest monthly rental fee and the hall suits our needs perfectly. I have been talking to other Mid-Island PROBUS Presidents who tell me that our monthly rental fee is a great bargain.

The Management Committee didn’t want to make an arbitrary decision to give this money to St Mary’s without approval of the membership. As a result, we will be presenting the

above motion for your consideration at the September meeting.