August is financial "break even" month for AMO

Declines in AMO membership dues and initiation fee payments resulted in August 2021 ending as a "break even" month financially for our union.

Membership dues revenue in August was $811,851 - down $43,000 from what had been projected. Income from initiation fees paid by applicants for AMO membership totaled $85,977, a decline of $14,000 from what had been projected.

Expenses in August totaled $810,582 - $8,000 more than projected, resulting in a modest operating budget surplus of $1,269, which was $50,000 less than anticipated for the month.

Travel, the cost associated with the final stage of transferring data management services from one vendor to another, recruiting and legal fees accounted for the greatest specific expenses, but each was lower than it was in July 2021. Caps on spending are in place where possible, and these restraints will remain for as long as necessary.

Cash reserve, checking account and investment accounts totaled an unprecedented $16 million.

The year-to-date operating budget surplus September 1 was $504,529 - down $767,000 from the same point in 2020. This decline was attributed to an 86 percent drop in initiation fee receipts - $680,000 - this year.

Operating budget surpluses have been routine in our union - several of them at six figures - since mid-May 2015. This enviable position has allowed AMO to go seven years without increasing the cost of AMO membership, and AMO dues and initiation fees remain the lowest among the three U.S. merchant marine officers' unions.

Under the AMO Constitution, the AMO Executive Board must determine by November 1 whether membership dues will be increased effective January 1.

On behalf of the AMO Executive Board, I thank those AMO members who pay dues on time and maintain "good standing" and those applicants who pay their initiation fees up front or through the five-year installment option provided for in the AMO Constitution.

Timely compliance with our individual financial obligations and sound asset management in AMO have kept our union on the right side of the ledger, and we now have a working Secretary-Treasurer in Bob Rice, whose practical, sensible strategies will - among other things - curb what is now a significant difficulty with applicants lagging on their initiation fees.

Our intentions here at AMO headquarters are to avoid a dues and initiation fee increase in 2022, to sustain the operating budget surplus tradition that distinguishes our union among the licensed seagoing ranks, and to keep AMO

stable and secure.

As always, I welcome your comments, questions, criticisms and suggestions.

Paul Doell
President
September 16, 2021