Board Approves 2001 Budget

Board Approves 2001 Budget, Plans Services for Active Year

      The MDDC Board of Directors has approved the Association’s 2001 budget, which calls for continuing the many new or recently expanded Association activities and services and generally maintaining staff levels and dues assessments.
      Total net revenues for the Association and its for-profit subsidiary, Press Service, are projected at $1,010,159, with total expenses at $989,807, for an after-tax net income of $20,252.
       Programs and services included in the budget at or above current funding levels include an expanded professional development training program, summer internships, the free FOI/Access Hotline, lobbyists in Maryland and Delaware, editorial and advertising contests, award programs and two conventions.
       Revenue changes in the 2001 budget include a $50 increase in the price of ads in the 2x2 Network (from $750 to $800), effective January 1, and a $2 increase in contest entry fees (from $5 to $7).
       New expense items include a 1 percent increase in the Association’s contribution to the employees’ pension plan (from 3½ to 4½ percent of compensation), accounting audits of both PA and PS (previously, annual accounting reviews were conducted), and purchase of two new computers and an LCD computer projector. Additionally, $2,500 of the annual Legal Fund expense was earmarked for development of a freedom of information handbook for reporters and editors.
      The great bulk of net revenues in 2001 will come from the advertising programs in Press Service. Those revenues are projected at $384,300 from the Classified Ad Network (on sales of $673,941), $259,722 from the MDDC Ad Placement Service (on sales of $8,500,000) and $95,980 from the 2x2 Network (on sales of $172,389). Revenues for Press Association are projected at $196,359, of which $91,657 are from dues.
      The dues structure approved by the Board in April, after an intensive dues study, was adopted for 2001 without change. That plan grants a dues reduction for companies with five or more newspapers in membership, an increase from $7,750 to $10,000 in the existing dues cap for the largest-circulation members (The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun), and no dues change for the remainder of the 162 papers in membership. The net result of the group discount and large-paper cap increase is revenue neutral for the Association.
       Among other actions at its Nov. 9 meeting, the PA Board:
       • Agreed to actively oppose a draft policy from a Maryland judiciary ad hoc committee that would dramatically curtail access to court records. (See story, page 4.)
      • Referred to the Technology Committee the question of whether there is a need for Web site assistance by enough member papers to warrant involvement by the Association in assessing and recommending vendors for that purpose.
      • Decided to hold the September 6-8, 2001, summer convention at The Tidewater Inn in Easton.
      At its meeting, the Press Service Board decided to once again contribute to the MDDC Press Foundation 10 percent of the final before-tax income for 2000. That donation will be computed and made at the end of December.

— Jim Donahue