President's Message #1 - Casey Tiger Sharks Swimming Club

TIGERSHARKS SWIMMING CLUB
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 16/12/09
As Christmas and the New Year approaches it is with disappointment that I have to raise the subject of
non payment of fees. Like most local sporting clubs the TigerSharks relies on income generated from
sponsorship, fundraising, donations and importantly fees.
At the start of the season the Committee planned for a less than favorable year financially due to the
prevailing economic circumstances and budgeted accordingly when assessing the aforementioned areas.
However it is particularly distressing when the bulk of the clubs income generated from monthly fees is
not received as has occurred this month with more than 50% of fees outstanding. This is not an
acceptable situation for the other Club members/families who have paid their fees when due. Nor is it
acceptable to the members who due to a limited number of club volunteers need to spend hours each
day/night after a full day at work chasing money and then having to make those awkward calls to people
they know asking for money to keep our club prospering.
Please remember that if any family finds themselves in circumstances where they are unable to pay their
monthly fees please contact the Club Treasurer and or member of the committee immediately.
Assistance may be arranged in genuine cases of financial difficulties upon written submission (which
shall remain confidential) to the Committee or the Treasurer.
Also a reminder to all families that:
At this time of the year families often ask for fees to be credited or ask for an exemption from paying
fees as they are on holidays. The TigerSharks swimming fees are calculated on an annual fee divided
into 12 monthly payments which remain constant since the Club's costs are also fixed. Therefore, we are
unable to credit fees when families take holidays. Having our fees divided into 12 monthly payments
assists in keeping our fees as low as possible and in doing that, at this point of time, we have not had a
fee increase this season.
Each monthly squad fee Instalment payment is due and payable by the 1 st of the month for which the
instalment applies (e.g. the instalment for January is payable by the 1 st of January). Squad Fee
Instalments are invoiced on the 14 th of the preceding month and sent via email. A committee member
at training will issue people without an email address their invoice, or the invoice will be posted
to the member’s home address.
Failure on the part of the member to pay the monthly instalment within 14 days of the due date, without
notification to the Treasurer, will result in the exclusion of the member from all activities of the
swimming programme. This will be enforced without fear or favour.
In an effort to ensure fees are paid on time a late payment fee of 10% of total fees owed will be applied
commencing 1 st January 2010 to outstanding fees past the 14 days of the due date.
This action is not taken lightly but is in response to the recent inordinate amount of non payment of fees
and to the small minority of members who are habitually late in paying fees.
Some members will receive emails advising them of their outstanding fees by the end of this week.

When dealing with the people managing the club, please remember that they are volunteers and should
be accorded the same respect that you would expect yourself. It is often very easy to take out your
frustrations on committee members particularly those involved with collection of fees. No one enjoys
chasing up late fees as it is very stressful and time consuming. Please ensure fees are paid on or before
the due date. Fees collected and other income generated from fundraising and sponsorship helps us to
maintain our quality of coaching in this period of expansion and to also keep our fees low.
Regards,
Terry Gleeson.
President; TigerSharks Swimming Club.
http://www.caseytigersharks.com.au;