Budget and Finance Committee Minutes

April 27, 2006

Cash Statement

Gail will get a sample of what other co-ops use to report finances to their boards, look at the statements provided by libraries, and develop a recommendation for the next meeting.

Gail will investigate moving to Quick Books as soon as possible. We can buy the software through KRESA or another nonprofit discount program, and begin the migration. We will look at Woodlands chart of accounts and Gail will develop some recommendations for a revised Chart of Accounts by the next meeting.

We will add Verso into the next cash statement as part of the operating budget, both income and expenses.

Bills

We need to change the current bill paying process. Currently we are paying late fees as we wait for board approval before paying the bills. Board members sign blank checks and leave them with the staff. This is a worry because banks do not require a double signature, that’s an audit requirement. Going forward we will pay bills biweekly and travel to get a board member signature in lieu of having signed checks lying around. When the board is presented with the list of bills – it will include all bills that have been paid or are to be paid since the last statement.

Gail will find out how TLN uses reciprocal borrowing.

Gail will investigate slimming down the number of bank accounts being held by the co-op. Gail will ask the auditors how the FDIC rules affect our type of organization. Judy mentioned that her credit union insures up to $300,000.

Verso

Gail will schedule a call with Autographics to re-negotiate our Verso contract. Judy will participate, and Gail will invite some other muscle from the board. WE will go around Lynn to Albert Flores, who is the person who signs our contracts. Some options include:

• Pro-rating the contract for the two libraries we have signed up and void the rest of the contract
• Revise the payment schedule to allow us to make payments as libraries pay us
• Ask Wayne to work on a contract basis to help us sell Verso, and pay him as we get paid

Agent

Gail will make corrections to the spreadsheet to include all member libraries.

Gail will find out how many of the 1.3 million records in Agent are unique?

Gail will develop a charge back schedule to include a 26% administration fee on Agent for all non-public libraries. It will specify ranges of records and a fee for each range. This will be ready for our next meeting. When we send out the non-public library membership invoices, we want to include invoicing for Agent as a new item.

Cash Flow

Gail will get an appraisal of the building. We want to see appraisals on three comparable buildings, and will get help on setting our price.

We will send out invoices for the next state aid payments requesting early payment.

At the next Public Library Director’s meeting, we will ask Katherine to put us on the agenda to discuss selling our building and increasing what we collect from our member’s state aid.

Gail will research the details behind the current 50% state aid arrangement for our next meeting.

Gail will ask the auditor for more detail on the item in our audit listed as a liability – deferred revenue.

At the next board meeting we will raise the issue of both laying off staff and establishing a line of credit for the co-op. In the interim Gail will investigate both items.