[SBU Board] Fwd: An open letter to the Presidents of Unit Boards

[Tim White]

FYI

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Candysbridgeclub at aol.com
> Subject: An open letter to the Presidents of Unit Boards
> Date: October 21, 2016 8:08:51 PM PDT
> To: dtbladow at gmail.com, boyette at gci.net, robertlix159 at gmail.com, jhosford at q.com, cmjcbradshaw at gmail.com, pamorse at shaw.ca, leslie.wood at shaw.ca, jayrbrandt at comcast.net, sage309 at live.com, navy.golf.mp at gmail.com, bridgequeen at comcast.net, hraj at localaccess.com, kdemeritt at frontier.com, carapace at mindspring.com, trkwhite at gmail.com, kjadams1961 at gmail.com, burmaph at embarqmail.com, tlcdds at aol.com, janandphil at charter.net, witzos at nwi.net, eagleeryr at msn.com, johnperry at shaw.ca, eileen.currier at gmail.com, warren.t.watson at gmail.com
> 
> An open letter to the Presidents of Unit Boards...
>  
> To those who are on the Unit Boards in District 19,
> My name is Candy Scott, I am a board member of Unit 562 of District 23.  I sent the following letter to the Editor of the ACBL Bulletin complaining of the excessively large increase in Unit Game sanctions.  Portions of this letter will be published in the November Bulletin.  Going from $1.25 per table to $2.25 per table is an 80% increase.  No other area: clubs, charity games, Sectionals, Regionals, NAP, GNT, etc. got as big a hit as the units did.  I feel this is unfair and may have negative effect on many already struggling units and even those who aren't struggling. But the effect may be that we can't do as much as we could before.  District 23 Representative Kevin Lane, at my request, brought this up at the last Board of Directors meeting and was told that the Board does not like to rescind fee hikes once they are in place. In the letter I suggest that the increase be smaller, in line with all the other increases.  I didn't put it in the letter, but I think the raise of 25 cents per table is fair. You all know that Unit Boards are made up of volunteers who need those funds to help promote bridge.  The ACBL is shortsighted if they believe that keeping this large increase is going to help them and in the long run it is better to have healthy units.  If you agree with me and think the Board of Directors should reconsider their decision please contact your Representative,Marv Norden and let him know your feelings. A note to your Board of Governors Representative wouldn't hurt.
>  
> Thank you
> Candy Scott
> 310-652-6116
> candysbrigdeclub at aol.com
>  
> Dear Editor,   
>       I am a member of the West Los Angeles Unit Board,  part of District 23.   To quote your handbook on what a unit's function is "Our 300+ units supervise and promote bridge within their boundaries.  They have the exclusive right to host sectionals in their territory and may conduct other special games such as unit championships.  Each unit receives a share of ACBL membership fees.  We encourage units to use these fees for programs to increase membership and enhance the enjoyment of the game for all members." 
>     Units are now feeling the pain of an 80% raise in the sanction fees for unit championships.  Unit sanctions are considered a special game and is included with all the other events the ACBL gave a $1.00 raise (NAP, GNT, Charity games, etc.). I have mentioned this to other units in this district and they are also having difficulties.  WLA has many unit-wide championships that the clubs hold and while they keep the money collected, we would pay the sanction fees.  This is doing our job in enhancing players enjoyment.  Unfortunately, due to you harsh increase we have been forced to ask the clubs to chip in.  While the clubs in our unit agreed, several of us are not happy with the situation and this may lead to us not using all of our yearly unit games.  
>      If in other units the clubs pay for holding a unit championship,  previous to this fee increase, a club fee was .74 per table and the unit fee was 1.25.  Clubs would eat the extra .51 for the extra points the players  got.  Now club fees are paying 1.00 and unit fees are 2.25,  that is a 125% difference.  Clubs may consider financially running a unit championship a losing proposition and just run club championships and forgo those unit games.   If a Unit Championship is run solely by the unit board then the unit is now taking the whole hit. 
>     This summer the WLA Unit has supported the North American Pairs by one time bringing in pizza and another ice cream during the qualifying games.  We also paid the extra dollar for the players.  We are doing the best we can to support this event.  To do this we need money!  Your 80% increase will make it tougher for units to do those special things that you want us to do.  
>    We figured the increase will cost us over 1000 dollars a year, which is over half of  what we get from you as our share of the membership fees.  Fortunately the new Sectional fees were not an 80% increase, but they are higher, and with this increase in fees for sectionals our finances are decreasing and our continued ability to run those events we want to hold is in jeopardy.  In District 23 the WLA unit has more money then a lot of the other units.  Those units are looking at whether they can survive this burden your unthinking or maybe unwise decision about how much you believe units can pay.  
>      You've got to help the units continue to do what they need to do to follow those guidelines that they were set up to do. We need the funds for programs to increase the membership and enhance the enjoyment of the game.   Unit Board members are all volunteers and I am asking for all of those unit  board members,  please don't limit our ability to do those things in your attempt to fix your budget woes.  This is shortsighted of you.  Remember cutting back the units funds will cut back on their  functions and will ultimately lead to hurting the ACBL's bottom line.  
>      I am not saying to totally eliminate the fee hike,  just make the raise in the same ratio as other fee raises.   I suggest  either lower this increase to a reasonable level, in line with other fee hikes, or raise the amount you give the units in membership fees.    
>     District 23 may be an anomaly due to it being just the Los Angeles County, but I'm sure there are other units looking at their new bill for holding unit championships are saying "What the H***!" 
> Candy Scott
> K376318
> West Hollywood, CA
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