Cyberspace Communications finances for June 2001

Jul 2 22:40 UTC 2001

Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances
through June 30th, 2001.

Beginning Balance     $4,379.13

Credits                 $372.00         Member contributions
                        $115.00         Proceeds from the 6th Grex Auction
                         $30.00         Proceeds from the Grex store
                         $10.00         Miscellaneous donations
                   ------------
                        $527.00

Debits                   $72.93         Pumpkin Rent for July
                         $45.97         Electricity for June
                        $218.50         Phone Bill
                        $135.00         DSL June 15 through July 15
                         $40.00         CardService fee for May
                          $2.52         PayPal discounts (income = $90)
                         $31.00         Reimburse scott for recycling
                   ------------
                        $545.92

Ending Balance        $4,360.21

Our current balance breaks down as follows:

$4,073.21               General Fund
  $141.86               Silly Hat Fund
   $60.00               Spare Parts Fund

The activity in the Grex store this month looks like this:

                         Cash                                    Stock
                     ---------                                ---------
Beginning balances:   $101.40                                  $189.30
Items sold:            $30.00                                  ($18.00)
                     ---------                                ---------
Ending balances:      $131.40                                  $171.30

We had no new members in June.  We are currently at 97 members, 91 of whom 
are paid through at least July 15th.  (The others expired recently and are 
in a grace period.)

Notes:

- Ameritech is still billing us for the two lines we dropped in March.  I've 
called them 4 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.  I tried to go up a level to get it fixed this time, but didn't have any 
luck.  I did speak to a person who told me I could call her personally if it 
hadn't been fixed by the next bill.  (Everyone I talk to still assures me 
that when the change finally does appear on our bill, we will be credited 
back to March.)

- Cardservice increased our fee from $35/month to $40/month.  But I sent in 
the letter to terminate our account, and confirmed that they received it and 
that the termination process is on track.  So we should be rid of them on 
August 3rd.

- A lot of the month was taken up working on our personal property tax 
statement.  STeve estimated the value of all our items, and I sent in the 
form.  The Appraiser accepted the estimates, and calculated our assessment 
at $2000.  That means we will pay 5.8% of that in tax this year, or $116.00.

- I've spent the last 2 weeks getting our inventory into an SQL database and 
writing CGI scripts to query and maintain it.  I hope to have that up on the 
web soon.  If we can keep it up to date, it will streamline filling out the 
statement next year and in future years.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in June:

bruin, clintw, coyote, ea, glenda, god9, grangerz, jiffer, jmm, jonathon, 
krj, orinoco, quail, remmers, robh, scg, steve, tomaso, valerie, and wh.

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 8:

Jul 3 04:31 UTC 2001

If it's still on the bill this month, I guess that's what I'll do.  I'm
skeptical that not paying for that subset of the bill will do anything
besides generate penalties, though.

response 4 of 8:

Jul 3 05:04 UTC 2001

If that generates penalties, the penalties become disputed charges as well.

I think you are supposed to send something in in writing explaining the
dispute.  I don't think you're supposed to send it with the check, as the
checks are processed by people who do nothing but process checks, while the
disputes are processed by people who deal with disputes.

response 6 of 8:

Jul 4 01:18 UTC 2001

I once dutifully wrote a change of address in the little space provided 
for it on one of my credit card billing slips.  I got the slip back, two 
months later, with a note that there was 'some extraneous writing on it' 
and instructions to call their 800 number if I needed assistance.

response 8 of 8:

Jul 16 21:28 UTC 2001

Ameritech did finally refund us for the lines we dropped in March.  The
refund amount is $133.57, so our bill for this month is only $42.61.