State Bar facing budget deficit decisions

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Midway through its fiscal year, the State Bar of Wisconsin is facing another six-figure budget deficit, and leaders foresee potentially drastic changes to close the gap.

Bar president Jim Brennan said the bar likely has three options – cut service programs, tap into the bar’s reserve, or raise dues – to help stabilize a $196,484 deficit as of Dec. 31.

Smaller returns on investments and about a 14 percent dip in seminar-related revenue are the primary culprits for the shortfall, according to Finance Committee Chair Margaret Hickey.

The board adopted its 2012 budget with a $200,000 overall deficit, which was balanced by drawing money from the bar’s reserves, but Brennan said the bar can’t afford to continue on the same course financially.

“It would be a lot easier to kick the can down the road,” he said at the State Bar’s Board of Governors meeting Friday in Madison, “but we’re not going to do that this year.”

The bar currently has about $400,000 in its dues stabilization reserve, according to Hickey.

The bar has been able to cut costs by keeping expenses 3 percent below budget, including a $63,000 savings in program marketing and reducing its full-time staff by nine positions this fiscal year.

But Hickey said that the majority of the State Bar’s revenue comes from sources other than dues, and the decline in money from product sales is a concern.

“We get 60 percent of our revenue from non-dues sources,” she said. “So when sales of seminars and books suffer, it definitely affects our budget.”

Brennan said the Finance and Executive committees are scheduled to meet Feb. 17-18 to discuss long-term financial options to maintain stability for the bar.

“This will involve some difficult decisions,” he said. “There are a lot of working parts we have to work with in the coming months.”