District President Reports

Board Notes

Carol Jean Larsen

Mileage Reimbursement Changes

A few months ago, the Board and staff became aware that we had not been informing our volunteers that they ought to be declaring as income to the IRS the difference between the charitable rate for deducting expenses and the staff rate of reimbursement for mileage driven in their work, currently 36.5 cents, which we have been giving volunteers.

Effective July 1, 2004, the PSD will reimburse volunteers at 14 cents per mile or volunteers may choose to forego reimbursement and deduct 14 cents per mile as a charitable deduction on their tax returns.

The staff report noted that the majority of PSD volunteers do not submit for mileage since their small working groups meet in close proximity to their homes.

However, this change will have some impact on the six Program Council volunteers who recommended this change to the PSD Board, to the seven Resource Liaisons who do site visits to each of their six to seven small congregations, and to the eight PSD board members who agreed unanimously to this new reimbursement rate.

Annual Report Available

Please consider reading the 2004 Annual Report of PSD services to congregations. Each of your delegates to the annual business meeting in Kansas City, April 24, received a copy. Also, one file copy has been mailed to each of the 62 congregations in the district.

It has a hot yellow cover. Track it down! It is the record of what your congregation’s voluntary Fair Share dues has helped fund. I think you will be impressed—and you might even have suggestions for additional needed services.

A new report this year, on page 30, is from the Technology Task Force. Its mission is to help the PSD Board figure out how to use technology to deliver services to congregations even more effectively and broadly. If you wish to read even more details, email info@psduua.org and request board member David Leppik’s April 2004 report to the PSD Board which focuses on the plan to significantly upgrade www.psduua.org .

Thank you

As my term as president ends, I thank you for the opportunity to serve this eight state district. As I return to lay leadership in the Bismarck-Mandan UU Fellowship, I certainly plan on attending the 2005 PSD Annual Conference April 8–10 in St. Paul, MN at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel. The theme is Unity in Diversity; Source of Hope and Courage.

Elections Held

At the Annual Meeting April 24, in Kansas City, Mary Amundsen (Rochester, MN) was elected President, Rev. Brian Eslinger (Ames, IA) Vice-President, and Kathleen Johnson (Lincoln, NE) Secretary.

Newly elected Directors (pictured) are Laura Schlatter (St. Paul, MN: Unity), Will Ranken (Wichita, KS) and Cheryll Wallace (Omaha, NE).

Also elected were Carol Jean Larsen (Bismarck, ND) and Andrea Heier (Wayzata, MN) to the Nominating Committee and Chris Greene (Fridley, MN) representative to the Midwest UU Conference.