Are they going to lynch me?


Rough evening.




A picture of me in my home office. Apropos of nothing beyond the fact that I haven't had a picture like this in a while.

I'm on the board of directors of my kids' daycare center. In fact, I've been the Treasurer ("Chief Financial Officer") for two or three years. Almost three years. Feels like a very long time. When did I start? Oh, yes. I started on the Board in January 2004 after having served in fundraising efforts and then as a room parent for the 1-year old classroom. In the summer of 2004, the executive director appealed to the Board for help formulating a budget and raising tuitions. I served on the finance subcommittee with the then-Treasurer. Finances were in bad shape. We had to make payments on a ridiculous loan with a huge interest rate. We had a ridiculously expensive copier lease, of all things. We sometimes couldn't make payroll unless parents on the Board could be called upon to pay tuitions early. We often couldn't pay bills on time and ended up having to pay late fees. Our workers compensation and health insurance bills were out of control.

Things were a mess.

Eventually, we settled on a late operating budget plus a schedule of tuition increases slated for the end of the calendar year. Personalities on the board clashed around that time as well, and I ended up being named as new Treasurer, a slot I've occupied since toward the end of 2004. I was reelected to the position of Treasurer after my first, two-year term ended in December 2006.

We've done a number of things like eliminate the debt, pay off another credit line, eliminate the copier lease and buy a new copier from Office Depot, switch insurance carriers to get workers compensation and health insurance under control, and so on. Just as important, the executive director shifted pay dates from the middle and end of a month to the middle and beginning of a month, which allowed us not to miss payroll. Our checking accounts now pay interest, which they didn't before.

Every fiscal year, I've made budget projections, established new annual budgets and tuition rates, presented them to the rest of the board, and gotten them approved by the board. For the first four months of every fiscal year, I nervously read every financial statement we receive from our accountant in order to see if our actual financial performance (income, expenses) is in line with the budget. At the 8- or 9-month stage of every fiscal year, I begin making budget projections for the next year, establishing not only the budget (including raises for the staff) but also new tuitions needed to meet the operating budget requirements. Once everything gets approved by the Board, I write up a note to the daycare center families publishing the new tuitions to go into effect, along with a summary of the budget. (I also write up full budget documents for the Board meetings, and these are made available to all families as well.) Once the new tuitions are published, I wait anxiously for a few weeks, querying the executive director about whether families have been complaining about the new rates, whether some need subsidies, whether there is a full-scale revolt, and so on. There are always a few families that have problems paying the new rates. I try to make everything as transparent as possible, and I make myself available to all families for questions or complaints.

I sometimes joke that I might get lynched in the parking lot. It's a very stressful job. And it's a volunteer position. I don't get paid for this, and I have to work around my regular job and family life.

Since Spring of 2006, we've started building a steady budget surplus, for the first time in the memory of anyone at the daycare center, certainly since I've been on the Board. I believe we're in very good financial shape for the present. Not only that, but our tuitions are lower than some comparable schools in the area, thanks to tight cost controls.

For the past few weeks, I've been hearing that a few families have been complaining about the tuition increases. Nobody approached me directly, so I asked the director to publicize this month's Board meeting specifically to allow those families concerned about the tuition to attend and question me. At the meeting this evening, we got two mothers, one of whom I've known for a very long time. Hers is a very nice family whom we've known for years. Unfortunately, they've hit some very tough, long-running financial difficulty which makes staying at the daycare center difficult, to say the least. We provided her my budget numbers for the coming year, which she went over thoroughly, and in the end, she pleaded with us to use this year's surplus as income for next year's budget, reducing or eliminating the need for the increase.

I was a bit surprised, but I was willing to consider it. After all, I've always kept each year's money segregated from the next. I kind of assumed that was standard practice for a nonprofit to keep budgets isolated like that, and anyway, not having had a large surplus in past years, the issue never really came up.

She was very emotional, and sympathy flowed from everyone. I certainly felt sympathetic, but it was my job also to defend the budget and tuitions. Unfortunately for her, the financial arguments from the other Board members favored staying with the current budget. The Board wants to keep surpluses as reserve for future contingency, e.g. suddenly having to replace the air conditioning unit in the middle of a blazing hot summer costs a lot of money. The Board doesn't ever want to be in a position of not being able to pay sudden, unexpected, large bills. Plus, as one of our lawyer members pointed out, our legal duty is to the corporate entity, to ensure its survival, and not to specific families.

So, the budget stands. The new tuitions stand. We may lose a well-liked family.

And I may end up getting punched in the face at tomorrow's end-of-year party. Or lynched.

Posted: Thu - June 21, 2007 at 12:11 AM          

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