Executive Board approves proactive projects

The AVMA Executive Board continued to embrace new projects needed by the AVMA and the veterinary profession at its Nov 16-18, 2000 meeting. As AVMA treasurer Dr. James F. Peddie said last July when giving advance notice of the approaching need for a dues increase, the AVMA's increasingly progressive and proactive path "costs money."

In November, the board approved $74,575 in expenditures from the remainder of the $200,000 in contingency funds budgeted for 2000. Projects funded from the reserves, or fund balance, required a three-fourths majority vote and amounted to another $143,900.

Proposed projects totaling an additional $526,246 in cost were approved for inclusion in the proposed budget for 2002, that will be prepared for board consideration in April.

The board also adopted several new position statements, guidelines for judicious use of antimicrobials developed by two species groups, a plan for restructuring Executive Board districts, and other proposals requiring modest or no direct funding.

When asked for comment several weeks later, Dr. Peddie said his philosophy is that financial resources are one of the two fuels driving organizations such as the AVMA, the other being human resources. As treasurer, he is inclined to want to hold onto funds for a rainy day, but he said the reserves are adequate. The treasurer had no reservations, therefore, about the board's funding the proposals, which totaled $744,721.

"Of the projects that were up for funding, I feel everything had merit," he said.

Each recommendation reported on the following pages underwent careful review by a board reference committee before the full board acted on it.