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The "Sustainable Budget" proposals -rejected by the National Finance Committee and why
The "KPFAworker" and associates are now misinforming us that the Pacifica Executive Director or the PNB refused to consider their "Sustainable Budget" which if adopted could avoid layoffs. The truth is that the Pacifica Finance Committee, which has been dealing with the Pacifica Budget problems, rejected the proposals after hearing them, because they would not solve KPFA's unbalanced budget by a long shot.
They would have continued the disastrous losses which threaten the station and network.
They would have continued the disastrous losses which threaten the station and network.
The "Sustainable Budget" proposals -
why were they rejected by the National Finance Committee?
Motions presented to the Pacifica National Finance Committee on behalf of the KPFA LSB:
Motion #1: “The NFC recommends to the PNB: Spread out repayment of the unpaid central services KPFA owes Pacifica National from fiscal year 2009-2010 over the next three years – for a savings of roughly 1.25 FTEs." (Failed 1 for, 9 against).
Note: KPFA has not paid any central services to the national office since April. The national office needs central service funds in order to run the foundation and to pay our vendors such as Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News, among others.
Spreading out the payments would be a drain on Pacifica and our excessive fulltime hours would continue to increase our debt,
We could not meet the last payroll without borrowing the money.
And we are approximately 4.65 to 10 Full Time Hours (FTEs) over budget.
Motion #2: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Suspend KPFA’s payments to replenish the national Heath Endowment fund – for the savings of roughly 0.5 FTEs" (Fails 0 for, 10 against)
Motion #3: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Suspend all in-person meetings of the Pacifica National Board, and return 1/5 of the of the savings to each of the five Pacifica stations, for a savings of roughly 0.4 FTEs." (Fails 0 for, 9 against)
This would require a change in the Bylaws - not a speedy process. And KPFA is out of money now!
Motion #4: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Reduce KPFA’s Central Service Assessment by one percentage point to 18.5% in exchange for KPFA housing the Pacifica National Office." (Fails 4 for, 4 against, 2 abstentions).
Might be a good idea, but the building might not be rentable in its present condition.
1% reduction - this would not solve the current financial crisis.
These measures were considered and rejected by the National Finance Committee, which has been working with station budgets - not out of political motives but out of their expertise.
They would not solve the continuing losses at KPFA.
The paid personnel cuts were requested of all stations 2-3 years ago - KPFA agreed, but did not make them, except for a few last year.
All the other stations cut paid staff hours. All have fewer FTE's than KPFA.
For example, Los Angeles station KPFK has has a bigger signal area, is not posting massive
deficits, and does it with about 24 FTE. KPFA is currently at 30.51 and after "decimation'' as it was so hysterically described, would also be at approximately 24 FTE.
We have lost a million dollars in 24 months. We are out of money. In the last month, KPFA borrowed money from the Houston station to make its payroll, had its long distance telephone service cut off and its online archives collapse.
KPFA in 2009-2010 looks to have the largest deficit and the largest payroll in the network. Without FTE cuts, it is a failing unit and could bring down the entire Pacifica network.
why were they rejected by the National Finance Committee?
Motions presented to the Pacifica National Finance Committee on behalf of the KPFA LSB:
Motion #1: “The NFC recommends to the PNB: Spread out repayment of the unpaid central services KPFA owes Pacifica National from fiscal year 2009-2010 over the next three years – for a savings of roughly 1.25 FTEs." (Failed 1 for, 9 against).
Note: KPFA has not paid any central services to the national office since April. The national office needs central service funds in order to run the foundation and to pay our vendors such as Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News, among others.
Spreading out the payments would be a drain on Pacifica and our excessive fulltime hours would continue to increase our debt,
We could not meet the last payroll without borrowing the money.
And we are approximately 4.65 to 10 Full Time Hours (FTEs) over budget.
Motion #2: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Suspend KPFA’s payments to replenish the national Heath Endowment fund – for the savings of roughly 0.5 FTEs" (Fails 0 for, 10 against)
Motion #3: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Suspend all in-person meetings of the Pacifica National Board, and return 1/5 of the of the savings to each of the five Pacifica stations, for a savings of roughly 0.4 FTEs." (Fails 0 for, 9 against)
This would require a change in the Bylaws - not a speedy process. And KPFA is out of money now!
Motion #4: "The NFC recommends to the PNB: Reduce KPFA’s Central Service Assessment by one percentage point to 18.5% in exchange for KPFA housing the Pacifica National Office." (Fails 4 for, 4 against, 2 abstentions).
Might be a good idea, but the building might not be rentable in its present condition.
1% reduction - this would not solve the current financial crisis.
These measures were considered and rejected by the National Finance Committee, which has been working with station budgets - not out of political motives but out of their expertise.
They would not solve the continuing losses at KPFA.
The paid personnel cuts were requested of all stations 2-3 years ago - KPFA agreed, but did not make them, except for a few last year.
All the other stations cut paid staff hours. All have fewer FTE's than KPFA.
For example, Los Angeles station KPFK has has a bigger signal area, is not posting massive
deficits, and does it with about 24 FTE. KPFA is currently at 30.51 and after "decimation'' as it was so hysterically described, would also be at approximately 24 FTE.
We have lost a million dollars in 24 months. We are out of money. In the last month, KPFA borrowed money from the Houston station to make its payroll, had its long distance telephone service cut off and its online archives collapse.
KPFA in 2009-2010 looks to have the largest deficit and the largest payroll in the network. Without FTE cuts, it is a failing unit and could bring down the entire Pacifica network.
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The 'sustainable budget' proffered by the paid staff at KPFA includes the real "hit list". It wanted to eliminate Flashpionts and Hard Knock Radio and replace them with syndicated programming!!! This would eliminiate union positions too - and way, way, way out of seniority!
So the paid staff, the Aileen Alfandarys, Mark Mericles, Philip Madaris, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Kris Welches, Eric Kleins, etc. are playing both sides: they want us to "support the union" while they abrogate the usual union requirement of "last hired, first fired", to instead eliminate their political enemies from the station while saving their own jobs.
KPFA'ers, don't drink the paid staff/CWA koolaid! KPFA is more than broke, cuts must be made NOW when they should have been done 2 years ago at the start of the recession. That paid staff disingenuously blames Pacifica for their own incompetence and overspending plus a bad economy does nothing to fix the problems.
Left to their own devices KPFA will bankrupt the entire network!!! The cuts are painful but necessary!
So the paid staff, the Aileen Alfandarys, Mark Mericles, Philip Madaris, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Kris Welches, Eric Kleins, etc. are playing both sides: they want us to "support the union" while they abrogate the usual union requirement of "last hired, first fired", to instead eliminate their political enemies from the station while saving their own jobs.
KPFA'ers, don't drink the paid staff/CWA koolaid! KPFA is more than broke, cuts must be made NOW when they should have been done 2 years ago at the start of the recession. That paid staff disingenuously blames Pacifica for their own incompetence and overspending plus a bad economy does nothing to fix the problems.
Left to their own devices KPFA will bankrupt the entire network!!! The cuts are painful but necessary!
05:00
"We have spent, and budgeted, as if a one-time spike in listenership and listener support was long term growth, which it was not."
06:40
"We have a lot more people on payroll; and it hurts to cut jobs...it hurts us as social-just people..."
"And you get pushed back, you get politicking, you get coalitions to block any kind of job cut,
so the path of least resistance is to first spend down your savings, as long as you got money to pay the bills,
and then go, 'Oh my god, we're headed over a cliff now', which is where we are now."
11:25
"So we've gotten ourself to a place where's there's not just a spending crisis, where we're out of balance,
but where there's a cash crisis. There is not the money in our accounts that affords us the flexibility
to take some of the steps we need to get the Foundation back in balance..."
12:00
"The income you have you have coming in, the revenues in that budget has to be proven.
You have to be able to demonstrate that you've raised that kind of money by that kind of means in the past,
or you can't count on it."
13:50
"Stations without any cash in the bank, who are starting the year with zero,
or as in the case with a couple of our stations, in the hole, negative money, have to budget a surplus."
"What I'm aming at, is not having the Foundation go belly up in three months, because that's what we're heading for right now."
20:55
"What I dread even more is the day that everybody at the five stations and Pacifica
shows up to work to collect their paycheck for their last two weeks of work,
and here's "Sorry, we don't have the money for you, our bank account's empty..." "
"And if we don't make the cuts now, and honestly some of these cuts should have been made one or two years ago,
that's the real prospect we face, because we're running out of cash."
Brian Edwards-Tiekert, KPFA Treasurer
Report to the Pacifica National Board - September 2008
Audio clip:
http://www.kpftx.org/pls/kxpls.php?dir=pnb080919/saturday&id=pnb080920d.mp3
http://www.kpftx.org/archive_2008.php
"We have spent, and budgeted, as if a one-time spike in listenership and listener support was long term growth, which it was not."
06:40
"We have a lot more people on payroll; and it hurts to cut jobs...it hurts us as social-just people..."
"And you get pushed back, you get politicking, you get coalitions to block any kind of job cut,
so the path of least resistance is to first spend down your savings, as long as you got money to pay the bills,
and then go, 'Oh my god, we're headed over a cliff now', which is where we are now."
11:25
"So we've gotten ourself to a place where's there's not just a spending crisis, where we're out of balance,
but where there's a cash crisis. There is not the money in our accounts that affords us the flexibility
to take some of the steps we need to get the Foundation back in balance..."
12:00
"The income you have you have coming in, the revenues in that budget has to be proven.
You have to be able to demonstrate that you've raised that kind of money by that kind of means in the past,
or you can't count on it."
13:50
"Stations without any cash in the bank, who are starting the year with zero,
or as in the case with a couple of our stations, in the hole, negative money, have to budget a surplus."
"What I'm aming at, is not having the Foundation go belly up in three months, because that's what we're heading for right now."
20:55
"What I dread even more is the day that everybody at the five stations and Pacifica
shows up to work to collect their paycheck for their last two weeks of work,
and here's "Sorry, we don't have the money for you, our bank account's empty..." "
"And if we don't make the cuts now, and honestly some of these cuts should have been made one or two years ago,
that's the real prospect we face, because we're running out of cash."
Brian Edwards-Tiekert, KPFA Treasurer
Report to the Pacifica National Board - September 2008
Audio clip:
http://www.kpftx.org/pls/kxpls.php?dir=pnb080919/saturday&id=pnb080920d.mp3
http://www.kpftx.org/archive_2008.php
For more information:
http://www.kpftx.org/pls/kxpls.php?dir=pnb...
Political Satire: Democrats In name only square off against community activists in a battle for control of the last standing progressive radio network.The Pacifica Radio Network rebuffs a hostile takeover attempt by the Shobama administration on BetterBadNewz: Half True More or Less 100% of the Time. Morning Show radio host Brian Edwards Tiekert vs Amy Goodman and youth radio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A1aAXkwLsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A1aAXkwLsQ
For more information:
http://betterbadnews.blip.tv
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