Announcements
Posted By rotary
President James spoke about two upcoming events. Our 1st quarter fellowship will be a tail gate party later this month. Our 2nd Quarter event will be a Christmas Party. President James encouraged the group to speak up with any fun meeting or event ideas.
President James also spoke about his attendance at the Rotary International Annual Meeting which took place this year in Thailand. Attendance of this event was an unbelievable 38,000 – as compared to last year’s attendance of 17,000 in New Orleans. Our theme for the 2012-13 year is Peace Through Service. James reported that India has now been certified “Polio Free” a very wonderful accomplishment that Rotarians worldwide have contributed to.
Also, Walt Larisey announced the YMCA golf tournament next Thursday benefiting the Youth First program. If anyone is interested please contact him.
At the suggestion of Ted Sexton, John Merrill spoke in the absence of our scheduled speaker. John encouraged everyone to vote on the constitutional amendment September 18, 2012. This vote is to make sure we can move monies to the General Fund budget or we will – for the first time in the history of our state – go into 2013 with pro-ration.
This could cause significant problems for healthcare, Department of Corrections, and all the agencies funded by the General Fund. The amount of money currently dedicated to many important programs is in dire straits without this vote. We will have restricted access to federal monies for Medicare/Medicaid. This could cause increases in Nursing home care with a decrease in services.
Agencies need to be smarter about how they are spending money and re- evaluate their expenditures. For instance: The Office of Child Abuse Neglect and Prevention chose to move out of the RSA building to an alternate location just down the street saving $250,000.
The General Fund also impacts the Education Budget. Without this allocation, local education budgets, which are already operating at a minimum, would be cut even further. There are payback plans in place for the draw. The payback plans are trying to avoid any tax increase
