Board to debate fee increase.

It's been 11 years since the last one, but at its December 15 meeting in Coral Gables the Bar Board of Governors will consider asking the Supreme Court to raise annual membership fees.

The board will also take on several other issues, including three proposed ethics opinions relating to duties of attorneys hired by insurance companies to represent policyholders.

The Budget Committee, citing declining reserves and the need to meet new challenges, has proposed raising annual fees from $190 to $265 for active members and from $140 to $175 for inactive members. The board needs to act in December in order to give the Bar time to petition the Supreme Court for a rule amendment to allow fees to be raised.

"Since the last annual fee increase from $140 to $190 in the 1990-91 budget year, inflation has increased 33 percent, meaning it takes $252 of today's dollars to equal the $190 of 10 years ago," said Budget Committee Chair Jesse Diner. "The proposed increase, to $265 for active members and to $175 [from $140] for inactive members, will hopefully last for five years if no new major programs are implemented."

Diner also noted the 1990-91 fee hike was only anticipated to provide sufficient funding for three to five years, but under careful stewardship the increase lasted much longer. "Hopefully, we can make this fee increase last much longer, as well," he said.

Eleven years is the longest the Bar has gone in its 51-year history without an annual fee increase, Diner added, and shows the fiscal responsibility of the Bar. But despite careful oversight, the deficit for the just-ended 1999-2000 fiscal year was just over $1 million and would have been around $2.2 million without the solid return on the Bar's investments, he said.

That loss, according to Budget Committee Chair-elect William Kalish, is projected at $2 million for the current 2000-2001 budget, even after the return on investments. "Fiscal responsibility dictates that reserves be no less than one-third of an annual budget," Kalish continued. "After returns on investments, the Bar will fall below adequate reserves by the end of 2002. This projection is based on an investment return of eight percent, which some consider optimistic in today's market and in light of the Bar's relatively conservative investment strategy."

Diner, Kalish and President-elect Terry Russell also said the fee hike is needed so the Bar can both maintain its many improvements of the past decade and also meet new...