Financial Report of the Texas Dental Association
Covid, A Hybrid Meeting, and a Dues Increase
U
sually with this annual article we highlight the end-of-year differences between our budget versus our actuals. This year our auditors were delayed due to unforeseen issues so there are no official audited numbers to discuss with the members prior to the TDA House of Delegates meeting in May. Yet we will discuss some of the “unofficial” numbers from 2021 to explain why the TDA will have a small loss for the year, plus detail why there will be a request for a $20 dues increase in 2023. To reflect on 2021, the TDA, along with just about every other business, experienced several obstacles that have impacted our financial outcome. Our biggest two revenue sources, membership dues (7a) and annual session (1 and 8), both took negative hits in 2021. TDA also ramped up in-person meetings and this caused travel expenses to increase compared to nearly a full year of Zoom meetings in 2020. The annual session meeting was one of the very first dental meetings in the country to return to an in-person meeting. TDA was also the second meeting to be hosted at San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in 2021. Even though the TDA did not produce as much revenue as was budgeted (budget = $348,351, actual = $35,400), it still gave our membership the expected valued continuing education. Dr. Hutto and the Council on Annual Meeting and Continuing Education Programs (CAMCEP) persevered through many hurdles (Covid restrictions, hotel issues, IT upgrades to offer virtual access, speaker requirements, etc…), all to create an environment for quality education. It was not a normal year and they deserve significant praise for being able to get a meeting together, much less a hybrid meeting. So, Thank You Red Coats for helping to meet our CE needs. As for membership, TDA ended 2021 with 8,857 members, with 7,335 of them being active licensed dentists. We continue down the road to recovery from a drop in membership and the corresponding dues revenue (line 7a) due to COVID and other factors. The actual dues revenue received in 2021 was $2,468,330 versus
134
Texas Dental Journal | Vol 139 | No. 3
Dr Cody Graves
Secretary-Treasurer, TDA •
That’s a real old picture up there. I look young!
•
The proposed 2023 budget is $5,769,988.
•
Dues are suggested to increase for the first time since 2015 by $20.
•
The budget is balanced in accordance with TDA Bylaws without using methods of finance outside of expected revenues.
•
The riders, allowing limited revisions to the budget, are included in this budget. The TDA Smiles Foundation has been eliminated this year due to financial constraints.
•
The 2023 budget is a basic operational budget. Any strategic plan, membership initiatives, or additional meetings not currently funded will need to be funded from our reserves, subject to Board approval.
