Cyberspace Communications finances for May 2001

May 31 21:35 UTC 2001

Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances
through May 31st, 2001.

Beginning Balance     $4,675.99

Credits                 $360.00         Member contributions
                        $200.00         Proceeds from the 6th Grex Auction
                          $4.00         Miscellaneous donations
                          $1.00         Silly Hat Fund donation
                          $0.13         Mysterous 13 cent deposit
                   ------------
                        $565.13

Debits                   $72.93         Pumpkin Rent for June
                         $54.34         Electricity for May
                        $188.10         Phone Bill
                        $135.00         DSL May 15 through June 15
                         $35.00         CardService fee for April
                          $1.62         PayPal discounts (income = $60)
                        $375.00         Liability insurance Jun 01 - May 02
                   ------------
                        $861.99

Ending Balance        $4,379.13

Our current balance breaks down as follows:

$4,177.27               General Fund
  $141.86               Silly Hat Fund
   $60.00               Spare Parts Fund

There was no activity in the Grex Store this month, so the balances remain:

                         Cash                                    Stock
                     ---------                                ---------
                      $101.40                                  $189.30

We had no new members in May.  We are currently at 99 members, 95 of whom 
are paid through at least June 15th.  (The others expired recently or expire 
May 31st, and are in a grace period.)

Notes:

- Ameritech is still billing us for the two lines we dropped in March.  I've 
called them 3 times, and each time been told the problem will "work itself 
out".  In other words, the people I had on the phone don't know how to fix 
it.  If it hasn't "worked itself out" by the next bill, I will try something 
else.

- While in the Pumpkin over the weekend, Jan and I noticed that 761-3596 is 
apparently dead, even though we are paying for it.  I will work on getting 
that fixed.

- We got a bill from the City of Ann Arbor for personal property tax.  janc, 
scott and I spent 18 man-hours in the Pumpkin over Memorial Day weekend 
doing inventory of our stuff, and the staff is currently working on coming 
up with prices for it.  In the end we will pay about 2.9% of the assessed 
value of our stuff per year.  I'm not ready to speculate on how much that 
will be yet.

- The board seemed agreed that it was a good idea to put some of our money 
into CDs at TCF bank, at least for the short term.  Personal property tax 
has been occupying most of my braincells for the last two weeks, so I 
haven't done it yet.

- Our liability insuance premium is an annual thing.  We are required to 
have it by our lease.  The amount went up from $300 the last two years to 
$375 this year.

- I don't know why 13 cents was deposited to our account.  Maybe when the 
bank statement comes it will become clear.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in May:

aruba, bmoran, brighn, bruin, charcat, ckkrish, cmcgee, coyote, dpc, 
dpfitzen, eeyore, glenda, jiffer, krj, mary, micklpkl, mooncat, mwg, nt, 
quail, scott, steve, and tomaso.

Thanks everyone!

If you or your institution would like to become a member of Grex, it only
costs $6/month or $60/year.  Send money to:

Cyberspace Communications
P. O. Box 4432
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-4432

If you pay by cash or money order, please include a photocopy of some form of 
ID.  I can't add you to the rolls without ID.  (If you pay with a personal 
check that has your name pre-printed on it, we consider that a good enough 
ID.)  Type !support or see http://www.cyberspace.org/member.html for more 
info.

response 2 of 28:

Jun 1 13:27 UTC 2001

Dunno if they do or not.  It's just convenient to do CDs at our current
bank.

response 4 of 28:

Jun 1 13:43 UTC 2001

(and Scott too.)

response 6 of 28:

Jun 1 16:09 UTC 2001

If you charged minimum wages for your time you could probably have earned more
than enough to pay the taxes for the next ten years.  I hope grex at least
gets rid of some obsolete stored equipment as a side benefit.  Thanks!

response 8 of 28:

Jun 3 03:24 UTC 2001

has grex paid personal property tax in the past or is this a new
thing?  

response 10 of 28:

Jun 3 17:32 UTC 2001

I was at a meeting of another non-profit where they mentioned that their bank
was the only one in town that had special accounts for non-profits that paid
interest on their checking accounts.  I don't know how much money they have
in their account, but the interest figure they mentioned seemed impressive.
I meant to memorize the name, but failed.  I think it might be Ann Arbor
Commerce Bank.  Their website doesn't mention non-profit accounts, but they
do sound like the kind of place that might have such a service.

response 12 of 28:

Jun 3 20:50 UTC 2001

What percentage interest do they pay on checking accounts?  Is there also a
minimum amount that must be left in the account?  Bank of Ann Arbor pays 4%
on savings accounts, which is pretty good, but I think 0% on checking and a
$700 minimum is required, which is not good.

response 14 of 28:

Jun 4 02:29 UTC 2001

if grex has never paid a personal property tax before, why does it
have to now?  how did the city discover grex has personal property?  you
have to pay property tax on a bunch of donated not new computer hardware?

response 16 of 28:

Jun 4 05:39 UTC 2001

Individuals don't pay "personal property" taxes and their property is
more personal than those of a non-profit tax-exempt corporation. Why
do the latter have to pay such a tax?

response 18 of 28:

Jun 4 16:36 UTC 2001

Re #16: I give up.

response 20 of 28:

Jun 4 17:09 UTC 2001

Do they operate within the city limits, Rane?  (Right now, I'm glad that the
UM Sailing Club keeps its stuff on Baseline Lake. ;)

response 22 of 28:

Jun 5 04:08 UTC 2001

The "personal" in personal property tax just distinguishes it from "real"
(as in "real estate") property.  My understanding is that any organization
renting space long-term from a commercial landlord will show up on their
radar eventually.  The meaning of "eventually" depends mostly on the energy
level of the Assessor and luck.

response 24 of 28:

Jun 5 16:46 UTC 2001

#22 is correct as to what "personal property" means, and probably as far as
the rest of it goes.