Motions to spend in excess of budgeted amounts

[NWOHIO]

I am the president of a singing chorus.  We have a documented and passed yearly budget.  Occasionally board members will make motions to consider contracts or spending that are clearly in

excess of our budgeted amount. 

 

Should I refuse a "second" on these items, and clearly not allow the motion to be accepted, so that it

never gets to the "second" and "discussion" and voting stage ?

 

Or should I immediately stop the action, and state that a budget revision would have to be considered first ?

 

 

NWOHIO

[Edgar Guest]

I am the president of a singing chorus.

 

That's the best kind.

 

Should I refuse a "second" on these items, and clearly not allow the motion to be accepted, so that it never gets to the "second" and "discussion" and voting stage ?

 

Or should I immediately stop the action, and state that a budget revision would have to be considered first?

If you think the motion is out of order you should say so. Your ruling can be appealed (if a member disagrees). The assembly (the members present) will then decide who's "right".

 

You can't "refuse a second" (though seconds aren't required at meetings of small boards with not more than about a dozen members present).

[Rev Ed]

You can't "refuse a second" (though seconds aren't required at meetings of small boards with not more than about a dozen members present).

 

In other words, before the motion even gets a chance to be seconded, you would rule that "The motion is out of order."

[Richard Brown]

In other words, before the motion even gets a chance to be seconded, you would rule that "The motion is out of order."

 

Well, if there is a long enough delay between the time someone makes the motion and the time when someone seconds it, that would be ideal.  But, it has been my experience that someone usually shouts "Second" almost instantaneously, before the chair even has a chance to mull the motion over and decide that it might be out of order.  But, he can certainly rule it out of order after it is seconded and prior to (or without) placing the motion before the assembly.  Even after debate begins, any member can raise a point of order and, I believe, the chair could do so on his own accord as well.

 

If the motion violates the bylaws or conflicts with a motion previously adopted and still in force, it is null and void anyway and a point of order to that effect can be raised at any time before the money is spent.  (Page 251, lines 3 - 15).  (subject to certain exceptions).  I can't tell  from the facts presented whether the motion violates the bylaws, but it may conflict with the adopted budget if the assembly approved the budget.

[Bruce Lages]

I'm not sure exactly what the original poster means by a "documented" budget, but I don't see a reason why a motion to alter the amounts contained in the adopted budget shouldn't be considered as a motion to amend something previously adopted. Am I missing something?

[Richard Brown]

. . . I don't see a reason why a motion to alter the amounts contained in the adopted budget shouldn't be considered as a motion to amend something previously adopted. Am I missing something?

 

Perhaps it could be, but it would have to be approved by the vote required to amend something previously adopted, i.e., a two-thirds vote without previous notice.  Page 251, lines 11-15.   That is the particular exception I had in mind in my comment above.   Maybe a financial guru can add to this.

[Gary Novosielski]

And adopted budget is not carved in stone, and changes to it are not automatically out of order.

 

That's precisely the situation that the motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted was intended for.

[g40]

There are many kinds of "budgets" and many different (and perfectly acceptable) ways organizations deal with spending and such budgets. It seems to me that the first thing to determine is how and/or whether expenditures beyond the budget can be made. I certainly do not know your rules and processes, but it could very well be that authorization for spending beyond previously approved budgeted amounts is perfectly ok.