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After a few months of fine-tuning by the APA Budget Committee, the Association’s 1998 budget was approved by the Board of Trustees at its December meeting in Washington, D.C.
This year’s operating budget, which was given preliminary approval by the Board in September, projects expenses of $31.31 million and income of $31.40 million. The budget reflects a second year in which the Association will be freezing members’ dues.
The budget process was somewhat less arduous than in past years for both the Board and the Budget Committee, thanks to a surplus of $1.7 million from the 1997 budget attributable to higher than expected advertising revenues for Psychiatric News and APA journals and from income related to last year’s annual meeting, which also exceeded projections.
Among the projects that will benefit from one-time funding with some of last year’s surplus will be the further upgrade of APA’s information and electronic communication systems, publication of practice guidelines on borderline personality disorder (under development), the joint institute to be held next month by APA’s Government Relations and Public Affairs divisions, and readership surveys for Psychiatric News and the American Journal of Psychiatry. About $250,000 of the surplus is earmarked to fund transition initiatives of APA’s new medical director, Steven M. Mirin, M.D., and an equal amount is designated for a fund to help the Association respond to "state and district branch issues of national importance."
Two new positions intended to improve membership services also have been budgeted. One, in APA’s membership department, will be responsible for recruiting international medical graduates into APA and servicing their unique membership needs. The other, in the Office of Education, is designed to develop new programs and provide administrative support for the activities of members-in-training and early career psychiatrists.
The overall operating budget factors in a 2 percent inflationary increase for departments and components, slightly below inflation predictions by most economists. The 1996 and 1997 budgets allowed for inflationary growth of only one-half of 1 percent, well below the actual inflation rate for those years.
The Board decided to put off until next fall an Assembly proposal that the dues moratorium be extended through 1999 after Budget Committee Chair Donald Scherl, M.D., emphasized that unexpected events and developments that have a marked impact on APA’s agenda - and thus its budgeting process - frequently occur during the fiscal year. Imposing a dues freeze this far ahead could seriously hamstring the fiscal-planning process for his committee and the Board as well as APA’s ability to shift priorities or respond with new initiatives.