Fiscal year and recharter

[Scoutfish]

Can anybody explain to me why recharter is in January, yet the fiscal year starts June 1st?

 

I mean, each year in September, we ( as I suppose some of you do) have roundup night at school where the parents fork over a pro-rated amount of money to sign their kids up for Cub Scouts.

 

THis money they pay is only good until the end of the calandar year when the packs must recharter.

 

BUT, the kids are signing on , and are put into their respective ranks as it is the beginning of the scout fiscal year.

 

Now, my son gets a membership card, and it only lists his name and ID # (if I remember correctly) , not rabk.

 

Mine on the other hand, lists my specific position. Now, I haven't yet been in aposition where I had to show that ID card as a source of true identity, but in principle alone, it kinda irks me that I may spend about half the scout year not being what my card says. If I drop out as a ADL in June, my card will still say ADL until recharter.

 

And you could spend half the year with a different number of cubs than the charter lists due to drop outs and late joiners.

 

When I start as Webelos DL on June 1st, it will stil say ADL.Not that I have to prove anything, but if I was that kind of person, I could go to local buisnesses and try to solicit donations or goods as a leader in some sort of position even if I no longer held a leadership position anymore. Well, I could for 6 months anyways.

 

So why the long time frame? If you pay/turn in all $$$ to your local council and they are the ones who (where it is practical) actually keep up with your membership and $$ , why not have recharter in July?

 

And I say practical because my council is the one who cointacts me, keeps me on a mailing list and is my source for issue or problems concerning my membership, training info and records , etc.. I wouldn't call National for everytime I needed something..

 

So why not recharter in July? Or rather, why not recharter in October, after having all the roundups and membership drives in September . I get why June 1st is the calendar year as far as coinciding with the school year , but January? January just doesn't really fit into things.

 

 

Your thoughts?

 

[BrentAllen]

April Fool's Day was two days ago.

[jhankins]

There was some talk when I was at National about changing to a fiscal year, but it never went anywhere. Keep making your suggestions, and it might crop up again.

[Basementdweller]

Again you over analyze.

 

The only thing that happens June 1st or at the end of your schools year is the boys stop working on their current rank and arrow points and Start the next.

 

Far as the title on the card who cares. It is just a title. Positons I currently hold, Day Camp Program director, ACM Pack 1, Webelos Den Leader Pack 1, Bear Den Leader Pack 2, Committee Member Pack 1 and Pack 2. I enjoy the boys so who cares about a title on a card.

 

If you changed positions in the Pack, did you fill out a new Application as is required?????? Every time you change or take an additional job you need to fill out another application. I have one nearly completed handy at all times. If you didn't I would complete one and turn it into your CC.

 

The charter is a dynamic thing, The boys who pay their fee in December are paid members until the following December, unless they are kicked out of scouting for some reason they have a right to remain on your charter until it is renewed.

 

As far as new boys go, I believe they will show up on your charter a couple of weeks after their application is filed with council. To be real honest I have never checked.

 

You can manage your den membership roster as you see fit.

 

My advice is to learn your position, enjoy your time with your son, it is all about him and his scout experience. RIGHT?????

[Twocubdad]

It doesn't matter. In our council all the districts have different recharter dates so as not to overload the registrar and admin staff. So it's not tied to the council fiscal year either.

 

The troop doesn't really have a fiscal year. It's not like we're doing taxes or an annual report. Dues are due in January and we start putting out notices in November. Recharter is Feb. 15. Crossover is March 1. This year we tried to collect money and applications from all the Webelos in time to include them on the new charter. It didn't work. Too many stragglers. Having some Webelos registered and some not was confusing. Next year we will recharter the existing Scouts then focus on registering the new guys.

 

Again, none of which matters. January, February and March are a big smudge of paperwork and money which could as easily happen any time of year.

 

I will allow that Cub Scouts are a little different. The Cub program is more closely tied to the school year and the annual calendar is a little more obvious. When I became CC of the pack, now 10 or 11 years ago, we collected pack dues in September when the program cranked up and the new boys were recruited, then tried to collect BSA dues/insurance/Boys Life money in Feb. when recharter was due. That was a disaster. Twice as much work for the leaders and the parents either thought they were being nickeled and dimed or they had already paid and didn't owe us anything.

 

For the pack, the solution was to treat Sept. 1 as the fiscal year and collect all the money then. We banked the dues until recharter in Feb.

[Eagledad]

>>My advice is to learn your position, enjoy your time with your son, it is all about him and his scout experience. RIGHT?????

[Basementdweller]

Nope,

 

Let me see, 4 months in scouting and with some on line courses from my.scouting an instant authority is born.

 

my thought is learn to crawl before you learn to fly.

[Scoutfish]

NOPE! Been way longer than 4 months, been to alot of live in the flesh trainings and sat in front of real live instructors.

 

And my application is correct as it only asks if I am a NEW ( versus former) adult leader, which I am. Not which leader position I plan to be each year. Probably because most CUB SCOUT leaders advance in relationship to their sons.

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/28-501.pdf

 

But lets see,,,You read a post and wah-lah.. became an instant psychologist?

 

I never claimed to be an expert, but the fact remains... in Sept, packs do round up and the DE is there asking for money. Come December, the packs want dues for insurance and recharter. So BSA's fiscal year is cut in half by the calendar year.

 

In CUB SCOUTS, the rank year follows the school year, but recharter follws trhe calendar year.

 

It doesn't require anybody to be an "instant expert", just the ability to know what goes on around you.

 

You know what..I'm not a meteoroligist, but I can tell when it's raining outside and when it's not!

 

I'm not over analyzing anything..this is fact! And by the way, every other comment you post to me has something about Boy Scouts. Not sure why as I have repeadtedly said I am in CUB SCOUTS and do not have an interest ( as of now) about Bouy Scouts...yet you keep insisting I get training before trying to be SM or ASM.

 

What is that about?

You must be over analyzing! (This message has been edited by scoutfish)

[ScoutNut]

When a council (or District in Twocub's case) recharters is NOT dependent on weather you are a Pack, Troop, Team, Crew,or Ship.

 

Fiscal is a business term and has nothing to do with the Scouting program. Your council's FISCAL year runs from January thru December.

 

Every council runs their fiscal/charter year DIFFERENTLY. If you want to know why YOUR council does something, ask YOUR council.

 

In general, from what I have heard/seen, councils move to a January recharter date due to it being easier on them from a business financial standpoint. A council IS a business after all, with all of the taxes, paperwork, and whatnot that includes.

 

The BSA Scouting PROGRAM YEAR runs from September thru August. This is the same for ALL councils nationwide.

 

Yes, there is some overlap of stuff for the UNIT COMMITTEES to deal with. However it is nothing earth shattering, or all that complicated. It also has nothing to do with, and does NOT affect, the PROGRAM you deliver to the BOYS in your unit.

 

So your ID card has the wrong position on it for a few months - so what! I have not had to show my BSA ID card to anyone in 15 years. AGAIN, what is printed on an ID card does NOT affect the PROGRAM you deliver to the BOYS in your den.

 

BTW - Packs, and most especially dens, should NOT be soliciting donations of money from any person, or business.

 

 

[Scoutfish]

Scoutnut,

 

Cool, that makes sense to me.

 

But let me explain, I do not plan or have any intentions of going from buisness to buisness soliciting donations. But pointed out that an ex... and possibly disgruntled ..former leader could go around local buisnesses and try to solicit funds. And pull out his ofical ID card and show it to people. Those buisnesses wouldn't know what people are and are not allowed to do.

 

As far as my id card, I only mentioned it as an example . Like I said, nobody has ever asked to see it.

 

I'm not stressed, freaked out or upset.

 

I was only wondering. That's all. Never said I was mad, upset or depressed about it.

 

But thanks for the answer.(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

[ScoutNut]

Bad people do bad things all of the time, for a variety of reasons. There is not a whole bunch that can be done about that. Certainly, taking away, or updating, an ID badge will not stop them if they really want to do something.

 

If a business is dumb enough to give an individual they don't know, cash, or even a check made out to the individual, then that business deserves to loose that money.

 

Changing a council's recharter date will not help.

 

 

 

 

 

[BrentAllen]

When I was CM, we would collect dues only once, in August, to cover recharter, badges, Pinewood Derby kits, and the Blue & Gold banquet. $75 covered it all. When you have around 100 boys in the Pack, you try to only do things like collecting money once. If you collect all dues at the beginning of the program year, it doesn't matter when recharter takes place.

[Oak Tree]

I have no idea what our council's fiscal year is, or why I'd care.

 

Our units can use whatever fiscal year they want - September thru August, June through May, March thru February (we recharter in March), or January thru December. Units don't even need a strict fiscal year, as far as I can see.

 

Personally, I think Cub Scout packs should recharter in the summer, to match the Cub Scout year. I do find it odd when the council wants to collect renewal dues somewhere in the middle of the Cub Scout program.

[DancesWithSpreadsheets]

What happens when Webelos cross over to Boy Scouts? Does their registration carry over, or do they have to pay a separate registration fee for their new unit? If the latter, it would seem to be a good argument for rechartering at cross-over time to prevent duplication.

 

Regards,

DWS

 

[Basementdweller]

The webelos fill out a youth application and transfer to the new unit. The transfer costs $1.