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Why the Membership Price Increase?
This year Nickel Plate has raised its membership rate as passed by the members present at the last Annual General Meeting. The reason for this is that the Club's costs have risen, with the main budget culprits being fuel, and the maintenance of the facility and trails. Meanwhile, a major revenue generator from previous years, the logging of new trails, is no longer there. Nickel Plate has enough trails, and even if we did log, the market for those logs is no longer profitable.
As well, the insurance dues paid to Cross Country Canada have been separated out in our membership application as an extra cost; $10 per member. Nickel Plate has previously included this insurance cost in its membership fee but the Club has found this prohibitively expensive since many members were either free (young children) or incremental in the same membership (families). Regardless of the membership fee or no fee, the Club was paying $10 per person, and the Club simply can't afford this any longer. The insurance is not an optional charge for us as club members; it is required by our insurer for all members, regardless of their level of skiing or type of activity. The Club will not operate without insurance. Other insurance options have been examined and this option is by far the best deal for the Club since it is a large purchase by many clubs across Canada.
It is important to point out that membership dues that are charged do not even come close to paying for the facility that we enjoy. Membership fees make up a little more than a third of the Club's revenues with the rest coming from fundraising, day use fees, and programs. All programs operate on a break even basis, though some actually generate a revenue excess which is applied to keep membership fees down. As well, it is important to note that Nickel Plate is a Non Profit organization which runs a balanced budget annually only because of the extraordinary effort of a small but very dedicated staff and the countless hours of volunteer members and Directors.
Michael Bartier
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