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Member Pipeline - Member Services & Information - Update (MU 01-12)

To: Members & Affiliates
From: National Office
Date: August 23, 2001
Subject: REPORT TO THE MEMBERSHIP
2002 PRELIMINARY BUDGET
Reference: MU 01-12

Action Please By:
September 14, 2001

Each year following the July conference, AMSA's Board of Directors reports to the membership on both fiscal and organizational initiatives. This July, as in years past, the preliminary budget for the coming year was approved and is now - via this Member Update - presented to AMSA's membership for review and comment.

In preparing AMSA's 2002 budgets, the Board of Directors received input on several significant issues from both Board committees and the specially-appointed Technical Action Fund Long-Range Planning Committee. A number of proposed changes are worthy of member attention and will be described in the paragraphs which follow. Included among them are recommendations for Member Agency dues supporting AMSA's General Fund to remain at 2001 levels (with the exception of agencies with service area populations less than 50,000 who will receive a reduction in dues) and the establishment of a separate Member Agency dues assessment focused solely on the supporting and 'growing' the Association's Technical Action Fund. Additional detail on each of these initiatives in provided in this Member Update.

Heightened Focus on Budget Ensures Quality Service/Cost Controls
After thoughtful deliberation, on July 20, 2001, the Board of Directors adopted AMSA's preliminary General Fund and Technical Action Fund (TAF) budgets for 2002 (see Attachments A & B, respectively). In developing the Association's 2002 budgets, AMSA's Board of Directors has effectively grappled with the challenge of evaluating membership needs, setting priorities and reassessing the resources necessary to meet our goals.

As noted, the preliminary 2002 General Fund budget assumes no increase in Member Agency dues; however, funds in the amount of $150,000 - historically transferred from the General Fund to support the TAF - will remain in the General Fund budget. The Board feels confident that a General Fund budget supported at this level, accompanied by a revitalized Technical Action Fund, will ensure that AMSA can achieve the goals and objectives outlined in the Association's Strategic Plan.

'TAF At Work' Provides Significant Member Benefit
Established six years ago to commemorate AMSA's 25th anniversary, AMSA's "stand alone" Technical Action Fund strengthens the Association's capability to implement its short and long-term regulatory and legislative objectives. The TAF has provided dedicated funds to gather and analyze data, initiate litigation, and secure the services of consultants having expertise beyond that which the National Office can offer. These funds are dedicated to projects and activities that impact pending legislation and anticipated or proposed regulations and policy initiatives, as identified by the Association's committees.

Since its establishment, AMSA's Technical Action Fund has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of legislative, regulatory and legal initiatives. Calendar year 2001 TAF initiatives include, but are not limited to, the Water Infrastructure Network initiative to secure increased federal infrastructure funding, support of the National Biosolids Partnership, and a number of initiatives related to wet weather, biosolids and mercury. A complete summary of 2001 Association activities supported by the Technical Action Fund is provided in this Member Update under Attachment C.

Clearly AMSA's Technical Action Fund plays an increasingly prominent role the Association's ability to 'get the job done' for its members. The dollars we spend ensure more informed rulemaking decisions at EPA and could potentially save billions of dollars in management, operation, and capital costs for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). This new icon will serve as a constant reminder of the important work done by the Fund. Look for it in future issues of the Clean Water News and the soon-to-be-released 2000-2001 Year in Review.

Board Acts to 'Grow' Fund
AMSA's Technical Action Fund is critical to our future progress. The growing and significant need for the Fund could not be disputed as AMSA's leaders looked forward to 2002 and beyond. It was clear that the Association faces a growing list of challenging issues - the number and breadth of which cannot be ignored.

The list of future issues the publicly owned treatment works community must address ranges from dioxin and radioactivity in the biosolids arena - to nutrients and mercury as they impact water quality; from performance measures and zero discharge standards as they relate to sanitary sewer overflows - to effluent guidelines and pretreatment streamlining. And then there are the potential legal issues with regard to total maximum daily loads, stormwater, sanitary sewer overflows, and dioxin. It is clear that AMSA must now 'step up to the plate' to ensure that necessary resources are available to meet these challenges.

AMSA's Board of Directors has focused particular attention on the need to ensure both the short-term and the continuing viability of the Association's Technical Action Fund. In late April 2001, AMSA's members were called upon to expand their support of this important resource to make certain that it continues to serve the vital role of ensuring that POTW interests are protected and priorities are addressed. Member response was truly gratifying and voluntary pledges in support of AMSA's 2001 TAF have topped $100,000. This response represents an impressive show of support for the important work undertaken by the Fund and provided important input to the efforts underway to ensure the long-term viability of the Fund.

This spring, AMSA's officers appointed a Technical Action Fund Long-Range Planning Committee to examine strategies to ensure the future viability of the Fund. The Committee began work immediately, and reviewed information and data reflecting a range of approaches to identify an appropriate mechanism to generate an estimated $500,000 in funds necessary to support the TAF. A parallel effort was undertaken by AMSA's special committee leadership through the Association's Regulatory Policy Committee to develop a projected budget based on project/program needs. This projected budget identified potential projects in the water quality, wet weather, biosolids, pretreatment, management, legal and legislative arenas and confirmed funding at the target level of $500,000/year as appropriate (see Attachment D). Projects and initiatives supported by AMSA's Technical Action Fund are individually evaluated based upon the recommendation of AMSA's Special Committees and Regulatory Policy Committee, respectively, and then approved or rejected by a vote of the Board of Directors.

In July, the Committee recommended funding the Technical Action Fund via separate TAF dues assessed to every AMSA member agency. The proposed TAF dues schedule, approved by AMSA's Board of Directors at their July 20, 2001 meeting, is based upon a sliding percentage of dues linked to service area population (see Attachment E). The proposed TAF dues would be applied to all AMSA Member Agencies and would appear as a separate line item on member dues invoices, in addition to member agency dues which support the Association's General Fund. While its impact is greatest to agencies with the largest service areas, so are the benefits realized through TAF initiatives. A copy of AMSA's current dues schedule can be found at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/membership/duessheet.cfm.

Dues Receive Review - Small Agency Constraints Acknowledged
In 1998 AMSA opened its membership to agencies with service area populations less than 250,000. Since that time, AMSA has attracted 145 agencies in this segment, representing over half (54.7%) of the Association's membership. In addition, 35 of these new members represent agencies that serve less than 50,000 ratepayers - accounting for 13% of AMSA's overall membership.

The addition of these new members has done much to enhance the strength of the Association's advocacy efforts both on Capitol Hill and with the Administration. While this is the case, the Association's ability to fully access this potential member segment has been limited due to significant challenges presented by the extremely tight budget constraints faced by small agencies. Acknowledging this fact, AMSA's Board of Directors has voted to restructure the dues for agencies with service area populations less than 50,000 (effective January 2002 for existing Members). The chart contained in Attachment F outlines the new dues structure for agencies with service area populations <50,000.

AMSA's leaders hope that restructuring the dues schedule in this growing segment will encourage membership by many smaller agencies for which membership is currently out of fiscal reach - and create the opportunity for more public agencies to join the Association benefitting AMSA both financially, and in the regulatory and legislative arenas.

Growth in AMSA's Membership Continues This past year we have continued to implement initiatives aimed at attracting new members. With the help of member agencies nationwide, AMSA's membership roster has increased to include 266 public agencies and 48 affiliate organizations, both public and private - well over 300 entities working together to increase our collective political clout with Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ensuring that our messages are heard by national policy makers.

Strategic Alliance with WEF/WERF Planned AMSA's strong desire to enhance its membership base and expand its political clout is coupled with the understanding that duplication of effort among organizations serving the water quality community must be eliminated. With the goal of ensuring that all priority issues of importance to the water quality community are addressed, avoiding unnecessary duplication, and maintaining good communication, members and key staff of AMSA, the Water Environment Federation and the Water Environment Research Foundation have participated in task force discussions aimed at forming a strategic alliance among the three organizations. While acknowledging that each organization has a distinct mission and distinct strengths, the task force successfully identified a number of specific actions that each organization could take as part of a strategic alliance. This effort is ongoing and members will be kept informed as the strategic alliance evolves.

In Summary . . . The years 2001-2002 will be a time of growth, change and challenge for AMSA. As AMSA moves forward in its fourth decade of advocacy and service, initiatives throughout the year will support the objective of strategically positioning AMSA to be the driving force in national clean water policy. We plan to continue to focus our efforts largely on the legislative and regulatory arenas. Through leadership and member support we will continue to commit time and resources to address the challenging management issues faced by our membership. And new capabilities and services in the legal arena will provide added value for AMSA's members.

This past year we have accomplished many things. Playing the most instrumental role in these accom-plishments were AMSA's leadership and members, whose firm decisions and substantial participation lent unquestioned credibility to AMSA's positions and led to increased attention to its policy goals. Many thanks for your continuing participation and support.

Member Comment Invited The Board of Directors encourages all members to review the 2002 Preliminary Budgets for both the General Fund and the Technical Action Fund. Please direct any comments you may have to Thomas R. Morgan, AMSA's Treasurer and Chair of the Association's Budget & Audit Committee at 334/206-1607 or via e-mail at tmorgan@mwwssb.com, AMSA's Executive Director Ken Kirk at 202/833-4653 or via e-mail at kkirk@amsa-cleanwater.org, or the member(s) representing your region on AMSA's Board of Directors (for contact information see AMSA's Board Roster in the Member Pipeline at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org).

The Board of Directors and committee leadership will meet in Washington, DC on September 20-21, 2001 for the Association's Fall Leadership Retreat & Strategy Session. The Board will adopt a final 2002 budgets at that time. Please provide your comments and recommendations prior to Friday, September 14, 2001.

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