[Lnc-business] Financial woes

[Daniel Wiener]

I only have time for a quick comment right now.  We do not "have a balloon
payment hanging over our heads."  That balloon payment isn't due for
another ten years, at which time the principal will have been reduced to
$367,741 if we do nothing else but pay the monthly mortgage (which is much
less than our previous office lease).  At that time we could deal with the
balloon payment by either (1) Refinancing the remaining amount, or (2)
Having another big fundraising drive which would only need to raise the
same amount we already raised for the purchase, or (3) Sell the office,
which would have a large amount of equity, even if real estate prices
declined from the $850,000 purchase price instead of rising.  We made a
large enough down payment that we do not have to worry about our loan ever
being under water.

Even that is a worst-case scenario.  I authored the change to the Policy
Manual which requires us to budget an additional $60,000 to pay down the
principal in every odd-numbered (i.e., non-election) year, when we can
mount pay-off-the-mortgage fundraising drives without interfering with
ballot access priorities.  As I showed in the attached spreadsheet, the
result of that will be to completely eliminate the balloon payment at the
end of the ten years.

Dan Wiener


On Sat, Aug 9, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Joshua Katz <joshua.katz at lp.org> wrote:

> Since I had only one person join me in my call to authorize additional
> debt, and that was qualified with the idea of waiting another month, I now
> float the following three motions and seek sponsors.
>
> 1.  The LNC shall authorize no expenditures other than those necessary for
> activities already authorized by vote or bylaws to be undertaken (to
> include votes which closed before the effective date but which have not yet
> been reported on the effective date, if any.)  No money shall be expended
> by the party until November 1, 2014, other than that which has already been
> authorized or encumbered, exempting expenditures from restricted funds.  No
> additional expenses shall be undertaken, and no agreements with vendors
> entered into requiring payment before November 1, 2014.  In addition, the
> LNC shall direct the Secretary to write official notices of apology to all
> vendors whose payments are delayed via negotiations by staff, or via
> non-payment or extension of terms, on behalf of the LNC.
>
> 2.  Prior to the December meeting in New Orleans, staff shall be requested
> to issue all necessary reports in written form, to be presented at the
> meeting (as specifically required, or traditional.)  Staff presence at the
> LNC meeting shall be restricted to the Executive Director and one
> additional staff member, to be chosen by the Executive Director following
> consultation with the Chair.
>
> 3.  The LNC directs the Executive Director to issue a report with all
> specific staff responsibilities, estimated hours required per week, and
> skills needed to perform staff functions.  The Executive Director then
> shall issue a report indicating potential to replace staff functions with
> volunteer efforts, after conducting a member survey for skills and
> willingness to volunteer.  The LNC requests that the Chair, after
> consulting said report, reconsider all staff arrangements and contracts.
>
> I favor the first, but am looking for all ways to stem costs.  We have a
> balloon payment hanging over our heads, currently are bankrupt, and have
> continued to vote to authorize expenditures.  I believe these operations
> must be reconsidered.  I understand that our financial hole is a temporary
> phenomenon, and that our bankruptcy is a matter of accounting, but we are
> still in dire financial straits.  I do believe that we need to bring in
> more money, but a financial crisis is also an opportunity to reconsider our
> spending habits, which should be restrained, and mostly aimed at our core
> mission, at all times, regardless of circumstances.
>
> Joshua A. Katz
>
> Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate
> Libertarian National Committee
>
> Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>


-- 
*"In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we
guess it (audience laughter), no, don’t laugh, that’s the truth. Then we
compute the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right, if
this law we guess is right, to see what it would imply and then we compare
the computation results to nature or we say compare to experiment or
experience, compare it directly with observations to see if it works. If it
disagrees with experiment, it’s WRONG. In that simple statement is the key
to science. It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it
doesn’t matter how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is.
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there is to it.”*
-- Richard Feynman
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