A read of the letter to members is interesting.
1. the total amount due on taxes BEFORE interest was 208,000 to feds and 56,000 to state.
2. 84,000 was received as a gift and deposited into ssa operating accounts. of that only 27,000 was transferred to the foundation. The difference is therefore 57,000.
3. At this time the board is saying that it appears as if 150,000 was misappropriated by the cfo and he has been sued and arrested.

Put all this together and the SSA has been living beyond its means for the past several years to the tune of about 171,000 dollars.
the letter goes on to say that the magazine will continue to be published and member services maintained.

Outside of the alleged misappropriation of 150,000 the ssa was evidently running a deficit of somewhere between 43,000 and 57,000 per year ( depending upon the number of years).

now we have a capital debt plus interest plus interest to feds and state to pay off in addition to this annual shortfall.

It is obvious that some substantial services need to be cut back or eliminated.. Even without the misdeeds, it wasn't working.

I suggest going to an all electronic magazine... THE NEWSLETTER FORMAT ALREADY EXISTS. There is about 1/2 mil per year here..

I have been looking for the minutes of the excom and full board meetings. recent ones have not been posted . I assume that there is a reason that this is not being done .

The last posted excom minutes stated that the full board was going to face the recommendation by the excom to change the bylaws to drop the necessity of an annual audit. I certainly hope that the full board rejected this "penny wise and pound foolish" cost savings measure in light of recent happenings.

there is a big difference between a "review" and an audit.
A review of financials simply accepts information prepared by staff. An auditor is required to independently check the information against original records and by other means.

An Audit also normally produces a cash flow statement and includes an analysis and opinion of the financial viability of an organization. Not only would an audit have nipped the alleged misappropriation in the bud, but it would have also required the auditor to give a formal opinion to the board and members regarding the issue of cash shortfall.

Bottom line from my read, this situation developed over time by the ssa living beyond its means and robbing peter ( uncle sam) to pay paul.. AND was complicated by bad conduct.

now is not the time to save 15 grand a year by forgoing future audits. 15 grand a year will NOT solve the problem of repayment and will only set the stage for the next fiasco.



5bg


wrote in message oups.com...
From the e-news:

"On 10/11/06, using funds loaned from the SSA Foundation, SSA paid
delinquent federal payroll withholding taxes of approximately $208,000,
and state withholding taxes of approximately $56,000. Our outside
accountants are completing the remaining delinquent federal and state
income tax returns (upon which no taxes will be due) for 2004 and 2005.
Once submitted, SSA will be up to date in all respects with state and
federal tax authorities. It is likely the IRS will require the SSA to
pay interest on the overdue taxes, but we are working to mitigate all
penalties. State tax payments will most likely not incur interest or
penalties.

The SSA was unable to secure a commercial loan on terms it could meet,
to pay its delinquent taxes. Had the SSA Foundation not financially
assisted the SSA with this loan, tax authorities could have seized SSA
funds held by the Foundation in a single investment account. The choice
before the Trustees of the Foundation was to either provide a loan to
the SSA with the expectation of repayment (with 8.25% interest - higher
than that presently generated by the Foundation's investment account
as a whole), or risk seizure of assets to cover what the Society owed.
If seizure was required, the amount taken from the Foundation could
total nearly $600,000, since no mitigation of penalties would likely be
possible in this situation, and the funds would be gone forever.

Addendum: Late-Breaking Information Not Appearing in the Printed Letter
to Members:
On 10/9/06, SSA Ex-CFAO Alan Gleason was served with a civil lawsuit
brought by the SSA. On 10/11/06, at the direction of the New Mexico
District Attorney, he was arrested by the Hobbs Police Department."


Frank Whiteley wrote:
Yes, all in tonight's SSA eNews.

Frank Whiteley
Greeley, Colorado

Pete Reinhart wrote:
All,
Does anybody know if IRS got their money on time?
I seem to remember that October 11th was the deadline.
Cheers!

--
Pete Reinhart
Austin, Texas