Thanks for your reply. Our bylaws closely mirror the sample provided by PTO Today. We have a $200 limit to what the executive board can approve on un-budgeted items. I hadn't thought of the rule applying to overage. I had always thought of it as the exec board can spend from $0-$200 off budget. I might want to suggest we update the bylaws with a clarification on that. Thanks for your help!
Have you checked your group's bylaws? Usually, the bylaws will state that the executive board can approve spending of up to a certain dollar amount without having to get a vote from the whole group. If the $300 is more than that amount, you really should get approval from the group. That's probably not what you wanted to hear because you are under the gun to get the author booked.
Does the author have a cancellation fee? You may be able to book her now and then cancel if necessary -- It sounds like it wouldn't be necessary because your group will likely approve this... But, you want to play by the rules and put it out to a real vote at your next meeting.
I'm treasurer for a fairly new PTO. We're hosting our first author visit and the author we have selected is local and is giving us a good deal but her fees are higher than our budget. We approved x for the whole event and the chairperson has just informed me that the author fees alone will be x + $300. I feel that if the committee can figure out how to get the rest of the event paid for elsewhere, I'm fine spending the whole budget plus a little on the author. My question is how do we get that extra documented and approved? We have a project proposal form that would normally have all the pricing information and a total budget that can be voted on in a public meeting. Due to deadlines and schedules, that document was not completed in time for the meeting and so we voted on a rough draft with a guestimate for a budget amount and tentatively approved that amount with the understanding that the committee would present the completed project proposal at the next meeting. At that point we could vote on the extra amount and have the whole picture for the event. The committee chair wants to hold an executive board meeting (she's also on the board) to approve the extra now, without the completed proposal, so she can move forward with the event. I'm holding out for the process but being made to feel as though I'm a stick in the mud getting in the way of getting things done. I am very aware that we are more than just a bunch of moms helping the school; we are a legal business entity and owe it to ourselves and the school to be as open as possible. The one stickler is that we really need to reserve the author's time now. The author might not have our dates open in a month when we've met and voted. Would it be ok to have an executive board meeting to approve the overage once we have a completed proposal? Or does that leave the school population out of the decision making process? Unfortunately, our meetings are poorly attended. We usually manage to have a quorum but not much more.
