Fees and Dues

[rhitland]

I read once there was a thing called a "jug Mason" they were given the degrees in exchange for a jug of Whiskey, to bad we cannot do that anymore!

 

[RJS]

Fort Worth No. 148
EA: $70
FC: $70
MM: $70
Annual Dues: $100
Endowment: $500

A life of Masonry: Priceless

That's pretty cool Owls! I like that.

 

[Wingnut]

Our building's corner stone was laid in 1899. Its been paid off for many years but now the maintenance is getting bigger. We own it jointly with the Chapter/Council.

 

[ravickery03]

Our building's corner stone was laid in 1899. Its been paid off for many years but now the maintenance is getting bigger. We own it jointly with the Chapter/Council.

Have you looked into historic clauses for taxes, maintenance, etc?

 

[Wingnut]

yes, we have as low a tax as we can get with every possible exemption being used (gotta love having attorneys in the lodge). One thing Im looking into is that since we are in a historic area of downtown, and have to abide by the historic districts rules on changes to the outside, I think we should get a historic site designation. That does open up some grants. Some members have been reluctant to do that however. To me its a wash since we have to get historic distric approval to do anything anyway.

 

[JTM]

Actually, the FOURTH- "Jubalee"!

I call him, the Traveling Man. Not because he's "worse" than the ruffians, but because his degree work is the easiest.

Fort Worth No. 148
EA: $70
FC: $70
MM: $70
Annual Dues: $100
Endowment: $500

A life of Masonry: Priceless

nice. i love the last line there.

Generally Lodges that don't own a building are in better financial shape than ones that do.

Our lodge when first founded had yearly dues of $7 a year, and $120 for a lifetime membership. Today that is the equivalent of $83 a year and $1400 for a lifetime members. Right now Army Lodge #1105 is $45 a year and $600 for an endowed membership (we did away with lifetime memberships in the early 80's).

Honestly we haven't kept up with inflation, which is part of the reason we (lodges that own their buildings) are findings themselves in a financial bind of sorts.

for this part, however, i beg to differ. those that own a building and got their 501(C)3 status, it has been MOST beneficial. we don't pay taxes or anything like that. effectively, we are in the same boat as a "church" and the Rotary Club, Optimist Clubs, etc.

we even started a Library/Museum, where our lodge put all our history into a single room and claimed "museum" status. saved us a TONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN of money.

we still own one of the older buildings we used to meet in, and collect rent on to a gas station now. that money is tax free and we don't pay property taxes on it. best investment EVAR.

 

[owls84]

This is a bunch of useful information. Thanks for all the posts.

 

[Brother Secretary]

Robert Burns: $50 dues & $100 EA, $100 FC, and $115 MM
Parsons: $70 dues & $125 EA, $125 FC, $150 MM

Let's do a little quick math. Please don't think I'm trying to reduce the beauty of the Sublime Craft to something as crude as business, for me Masonry is far more than an interest or a hobby. However, my Brothers, when we buy property and pay taxes we must be responsible about such things.

I looked up the valuation & 2008 Tax rate in TCAD and Hays CAD of some lil ole Country Lodges I know of that own their own buildings. The least expensive was $3406 the most expensive was 6580. Lets call it $4000 in taxes for the sake of arguement. And lets suppose we have about 60 dues paying members (not 50 year or endowed) and dues are say $40 per year.

$14.25 off the top goes to GL, leaving $25.75 x 60 dues paying members = $1545. So in this little exercise assuming a fee of about $40 for each degree (all of that for the MM is going to JP Luther / GL or whomever to cover the cost of Bible, Apron, Monitor, GW, et cetera, that lodge needs to raise about 30 Masons a year just to pay the taxes on the building.

That's a MM degree about every 12 days. 30 new masons a year just to keep Nelda Well Spears from putting a pad lock on the door. And that's before paying one utility bill or making one improvement to our 100+ year old building. Can anyone say, "pancake breakfast?"

This touches on the thread, "Is Masonry too Cheep?" To the assertion that a significant increase in dues and fees would kill many rural lodges... I would have to argue that they're already dead... they're just not broke yet.

This conversation being particularly apropos as from Hill City # 456 with her 400 or so members down to Robert Burns # 127 with her 40 or so members, it looks like nobody is getting an endowment return this year. I'm very thankful RB owns no property.

check out this article from the SR Journal: http://www.scottishrite.org/web/journal-files/Issues/jul-aug06/jacobson.html

 

[Texas_Justice85]

at mine its 50/year and 50 each time youre raised

 

[Blake Bowden]

Our dues are $30/Year.

 

[cmoreno85tx]

Community No. 1201
$60 - EA, FC, MM
$50 - Dues

 

[JTM]

Our dues are $30/Year.

aren't ya'll losing money to GL, then?

 

[Curtis Wilson]

50/ea, 75/fc, 60/mm

 

[jwardl]

Spring #1174:

EA/FC/MM: $70 each
Annual Dues: $70
Endowment: $700

 

[jonesvilletexas]

Melrose 1294 $100.00 per year

Cade-Rothwell 1151 $85 per year

 

[eagle1966]

we at Clyde Lodge just raised our dues to $75 begininng Jan 1, 2009
we had several members demit due to the raise in dues, we only have 86 members
own our building and are tax extempt
major expenses utilities, insurance