Tim, that is how I took your suggestion, which I believe meshes with Adrian's, which I agree with. I do not support essentially forcing the "family" registrars to pay a fee for each cred in the family, but if registrars are basically forced to pay the membership fee, then they should each have a vote. I support a higher flat membership fee, with "forgiveness" based on some objective criteria. -----Original Message----- From: Tim Ruiz [mailto:tim@godaddy.com] Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 1:40 PM To: Registrars Constituency; RC Voting Members Subject: RE: [registrars] RE: [RC Voting] Dues of $750 with "forgiveness" forthose who chooseto pay $250. All, My suggestion about setting fees based on size was just an idea to help resolve our budget issues and allow us to have a paid staff member, which I feel is important if we are to progress as a constituency and become more efficient and effective. I in no way intended it to lead to larger registrars having more weight behind their votes. That said, it was just an idea and I understand Adrian's valid concerns. I think Adrian makes another perfectly reasonable suggestion and would support that as well - a higher flat fee for membership that can be forgiven based on some critieria and/or the judgement of the ExCom. However, if we go in the direction Bob is suggesting, basically forced membership, then I will definately have a problem if there is no voting consideration being given to the other registrars we will, in affect, be forced into paying membership for. Tim ------------------------ From: Robert F. Connelly [mailto:BobC@awesome-goo.com] Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 7:52 AM To: Registrars Constituency; RC Voting Members Subject: [RC Voting] Dues of $750 with "forgiveness" for those who chooseto pay $250. Dear Members: There has been very little discussion of the proposed budget. Debate ends on Friday, 3 August, just five days from now. Let me tell you how we got to where we are with $750/year with $250 for those requesting "forgiveness": Tim Ruiz, whose company, Godaddy, pays $250/year, suggests that some of the larger RC members pay a higher fee. That resounded to Excom as though it was worth considering. However, Adrian became a member of the "larger" Excom and he said it was not fair to charge one member more than another. The issue was dropped. Then the idea of $750 was vetted, with possible forgiveness for those who felt they should only pay $250. Here is the proposed budget: Registrar's Constituency Budget 2007-2008 Review Period: 30 Days Income & Assets Current Assets (Bank Account) $37,672.31 Proposed Dues $750.00 Number of Members 50 $37,500.00 Proposed Reduced Fees $250.00 Number of Members w/reduced fees 10 $2,500.00 $75,172.31 Expenses Administrative Support-2 $15,000.00 Professional Support-3 $30,000.00 Technical Expenses-4 $4,000.00 Meeting Expenses-5 $5,000.00 $54,000.00 Expected Ending Balance $21,172.31 end quote: It occurs to me to point out that some members have membership for one company but in some way control several other registrars. They take out only one membership because they could not have more than one vote. But they take advantage of that one membership to promote issues of interest (and value) for all of them. Since Tim Ruiz was the one who volunteered to pay a higher "tier" of membership dues, let me use Godaddy as an example: At 09:40 AM 3/8/2007 Thursday -0700, Tim Ruiz wrote: Tom, all of the operational Go Daddy Group registrars agree with the statement and can be added as signatories. GoDaddy.com, Inc. (RC member) Wild West Domains, Inc. Blue Razor Domains, Inc. Go Australia Domains, Inc. Go Canada Domains, Inc. Go China Domains, Inc. Go France Domains, Inc. Go Italy Domains, Inc. end quote: That would be seven membership, at $250/each, that would be $1,750. NetSol controls ICANN Accredited Registrars. But what about Snapnames, Namescout and eNom? It is suggested that some of them have over 100 other ICANN Accredited Registrars. If they coughed up $25,000 each, we could afford the "Technical Support" consultant shown in blue in the Budget, above. I think it would be helpful if the members who had the most at stake were to pay in proportion to their ICANN Accreditations. We have five days to discuss these issues. Regards, BobC 2007-2008 Review Period: 30 Days Income & Assets Current Assets (Bank Account) $37,672.31 Proposed Dues $750.00 Number of Members 50 $37,500.00 Proposed Reduced Fees-1 $250.00 Number of Members w/reduced fees 10 $2,500.00 $75,172.31 Expenses Administrative Support-2 $15,000.00 Professional Support-3 $30,000.00 Technical Expenses-4 $4,000.00 Meeting Expenses-5 $5,000.00 $54,000.00 Expected Ending Balance $21,172.31