2014 scout fees will [not] be paid automatically

See the penultimate paragraph in the attachment. Does anybody know how this is going to work? How will it affect ward budgets?

"We’re pleased to announce that in 2014, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will pay the registration fees and unit liability insurance fees directly to the National Council. The Church of Jesus Christ unit charters and individual member registration forms will continue to be processed as normal, but registration and unit liability fees will no longer be collected or processed by the local council. This change will provide the Church, local councils, and the national office greater efficiencies in the administrative process."


TimRiker - comments below, although there has been some investigation, there do not seem to be any changes for 2014.

It won't effect the ward budget at all, scout registration never has.

Scouting registration has been paid from the general fund with the stake writing the check and sending it to the local council, who then sent it to National Council since around 1989. All that's changing is that CHQ will now send the funds straight to BSA National Council.

All Scouting registration no matter what type of scout unit or chartered organization goes directly to the National Council. Local Council does not get any of the registration fees.

It shouldn't affect ward or stake budgets at all. In the past, the registration fees have been taken out of a stake account that is immediately reimbursed, so there was zero affect on the stake budget. This change just moves the responsibility for cutting the check to CHQ instead of the local stake clerk's office.

Could we get an official LDS employee to confirm this ?

It looks legit, but it would be nice if such a big change is coming,
for the Office of the Presiding Bishop to issue a letter about it.

atticusewig wrote:Could we get an official LDS employee to confirm this ?

It looks legit, but it would be nice if such a big change is coming,
for the Office of the Presiding Bishop to issue a letter about it.

It was announced by the BSA - I'm sure we'll see it by not getting the bill anymore. I was more interested in the 60% increase in yearly dues to do 'Administrative' costs. This program is really expensive.

atticusewig wrote:Could we get an official LDS employee to confirm this ?

Not likely. We do not have any special connections for an issue such as this. Your best chance of an official response is to have your stake president run it up through the priesthood chain.

Right now, many of our units turn in their registration and then the BSA Council bills the stake. My guess is that they will just bill Church Headquarters now. Or maybe even the National BSA Office will bill and the Council will not have to worry about it.

Either way, we just won't worry about writing checks after the new year.

JohnShaw wrote: I was more interested in the 60% increase in yearly dues to do 'Administrative' costs. This program is really expensive.

I wondered if the Church is doing this to have some "leverage." I can't imagine what a huge check that is to write so that every unit is included.

JohnShaw wrote:This program is really expensive.

Yes, but I understand it is much more expensive in some other countries, Canada being one.

"I wondered if the Church is doing this to have some "leverage."" Perhaps so, in a number of areas.

JohnShaw wrote:This program is really expensive.

I thought $2 per month was pretty reasonable for membership in a high quality program.

As far as leverage, this is a price increase across the nation. We received a letter from our council executive explaining the increase. So I guess if this increased fee is going to give the Church more leverage, it will give all the other chartering organizations a similar increase in leverage.

Related question: Apparently, this change applies only to annual rechartering. However, BSA registration activity actually goes on throughout the year as new youth and adults join the various ward sponsored Scouting units. At present, the stake also pays these membership fees using the Reimbursed Expenses:Scouting Registration expense category. Can we assume that this expense category will remain available to us for this purpose? Or will all membership fees, even those paid throughout the year, now be paid out of HQ?

Guy I. Colby IV
Stake Financial Clerk

guycolbyiv wrote:Or will all membership fees, even those paid throughout the year, now be paid out of HQ?

We have yet to see anything official form the church as how this is to work. However, from the BSA statement that mentioned the change I have to assume it is all registration not just annual recharter.

I was contacted by finance to post an update on this. They have no information on automatic payments. Re-chartering should proceed as it has in the past. There is some investigation happening, but there are no changes to announce at this time.

At the scout unit level, when they recharter for 2014, if the unit is listed as an LDS sponsored unit, the fee calculation shows $0 for all items covered by the Church. Only the BoysLife Subscription fees are listed on the recharter form. Those have always been paid by the individual.

Our units have been submitting rechartering paperwork. The Scout Council has been sending invoices back to the unit. The unit has been forwarding the invoices to the stake for payment and reimbursement.

A Notice dated February 24, 2014 and available in the Official Communication Library explains the new process. Local units will return the registration information. The Church will pay the National Council for the registration fee.