For the 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2010, Local 802 realized a gain of $514,557, compared to a loss of $180,538 during the prior year. The audited financial statements for 2010 appear in the printed issue of May 2011 Allegro.

The increased profitability during this period was attributable to overall income being favorable to budget by $591,170.

Specifically, work dues were favorable to budget by $195,205 while annual membership dues were down from budget by $36,323.

Also, investment income produced security gains of $126,545 and realized gains of $5,989 in 2010. This was a healthy improvement in our investment portfolio from prior years.

Of the public relations budget of $341,000, we only spent $176,847 in 2010. In 2011, additional plans are made to spend more to promote live music.

Allegro advertising income of $64,557 reflected an increase of $20,583 in 2010. Also, until 2010, we were paying an outside graphic designer for Allegro as well as a separate advertising manager. Our editor is now doing the newspaper’s graphic design himself as well as selling ads in Allegro, the Local 802 directory and the 802 Notes electronic newsletter.

Legal expenses have gone down $170,209 from 2009 because of fewer legal issues.

We have also not incurred any strikes in 2010. As a result the investments of $2,030,000 grew considerably by $42,000.

On the expense side, we were $149,256 under budget. Most of this is due to controlled expenditures for legal fees. We were favorable on both salaries and benefits by $62,575 compared to 2009. We did this by implementing tighter controls over use of overtime and consolidation of some positions.

In summary, 2010 was a very positive year. But looking ahead for 2011, uncertainty surrounds income. We are budgeting a $300,000 loss for 2011.

Part of our challenge is doing a better job of billing and collecting. We are still implementing a new computer system for accounts receivable that will give us the capabilities of monitoring the income billed and collected in a better way.

The finances of the union remain strong, with $7,618,076 in unrestricted net assets. However, 2011 is a big year for contract renewals and the potential for strikes always exists. Our plan is to continue to be strong and continue to work to create new jobs for musicians in 2011.