PAX Centurion - March / April 2014

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • March/April 2014 • Page 9 Treasury Notes: David “Duke” Fitzgerald, BPPA Treasurer THE RED SOX FOUNDATION IS PROUD TO SUPPORT BOSTON POLICE PATROLMEN’S ASSOCIATION Dues Increase N obody likes to be the bearer of bad news, well not too many people but some of us have to be. That being stated here I feel that it is my duty and responsibility to inform everyone that our dues are being increased. Back around the year 2004 we had a by-law change, which the membership voted on, where our weekly dues was to be made 2% of our average members weekly salary. The purpose for this, if I remem- ber it correctly, was to eliminate the need to decide when to try and make an increase in the dues. The idea that it would be a set amount made that process much easier. As most of us are aware the dues are what make the association run. The dues pay all of the bills and at- torney’s fees as well as all of the day to day expenses. They are in fact a necessary evil if you want to look at them in those terms. Currently each member in good standing pays a weekly dues amount of $24.90 a week. That was based on the 2% before we re- ceived the arbitration award last year. Based on the size of that award our weekly dues will be going up to the new amount of $27.66. That amount is based on the 2% of our new annual salary. As I did state prior, that this is in our by-laws and is not the decision of any one person or group of people. The new stated amount of dues is not retro-active and has not started as of yet. Let me repeat that, the dues increase is not retro- active and has not begun yet. It was decided by the leadership to wait on the increase until most of the arbitration award was in our salary. The reason for the delay was based on the way that the award was presented. What I mean by that is that besides the retro-active increases that everyone received a raise on October 1, 2013 and then the strip base wage increase on January 1, 2014. It was a rational decision to just wait to make the increase after all those increases were made and our salary reflected them. I hope that I am explaining this in such a manner that is not confusing anyone. I do have a habit of doing that. As I did state earlier, I do not like to be the bearer of bad or upset- ting news. I do however feel that I needed to put this information out there before the deductions changed and nobody understood why. As the elected Treasurer I again feel that it is my responsibility to try and make said explanations and keep the membership as informed as I possibly can. Now that the process has begun to increase the dues amount it most likely will not take effect for a fewmore weeks. The reason for that is the way in which this has to be done. A letter was sent out a week or two ago to the City requesting the change and then has to be forwarded to the City Treasurer and then to the department payroll which all takes time. As we are all aware the City is never fast about doing anything. So in a couple of weeks that deduction will appear in our checks. I again hope that this was a little bit informative and not too con- fusing. If there are any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Union Hall and I will try my best to explain things either better or more clearly. I thank everyone for taking the time to read this article and want to remind you all, let’s be careful out there.