First, I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Pam and myself, to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.  Next, I would like to ask everyone to join me in wishing Pam’s husband a speedy and complete recovery from his recent by-pass surgery.

The year 2002 ended on a high note, with many AGA members playing Santa by donating over 100 teddy bears and toys to Children’s Hospital and the Marine’s Toys for Tots program.  Also, a good time was had by all who attended the Christmas party at the Walnut Room.  The mood was festive and the food and drink were plentiful.  That combination led to a lot of dancing and a fun time.

But now it is time to put the decorations up until next year and turn our attention to more taxing matters (pun intended).  Our January meeting will feature Mr. Henry Padeletti, a Senior Tax Specialist with the Internal Revenue Service.  He will give us an update on the new tax law changes for 2002, and how they will impact us.  In addition he will give us some insight into the New Taxpayer Education and Communications Priority Initiatives and how they will affect ALL taxpayers.

Finally, the National Association has requested that all chapters review their By-laws and amend them, as needed, to conform with the format of the National By-laws.  We have complied and will be sending out a copy of the revised By-laws to all members for their review.  The membership will vote to ratify the new By-laws at our regular February meeting.  Our revised By-laws consist of twenty (20) pages, which will be very expensive to send through the postal mail services.  In order to minimize the cost of postage, we would like to send them electronically to as many members as possible.  However, we are either missing or have an invalid E-mail address for many of our members.  Therefore, we are asking each member who has an E-mail address to notify Linda Lewis at linda.lewis2@usda.gov to ensure that the Chapter has your correct E-mail address. 

The Year 2003 looks to be another year of uncertainty.  Will the stock market and our TSP accounts recover this year?  Will we go to war?  No one knows for certain.  However, one thing is certain, if you attend the monthly meetings regularly, you will have fun, meet new people, hear interesting speakers address timely and informative topics, and if you’re not careful, even learn a thing or two. So, make a new year’s resolution to attend meetings regularly. You won’t regret it.

Ron Parent, President Elect

Sharing the Joys of Christmas – AGA Style

On Tuesday, December 17, 2002, 50 teddy bears were marched to Children’s Hospital and presented in the service of happiness and fun.  What a delight for all, for those who gave and for those who received!  However, this was only the start of the Spirit of AGA Christmas Present!  The next day, Wednesday, December 18, 2002, AGA presented 59 toys, books, games, dolls, etc., to the Toys for Tots Program.

The blessings of the season are indeed abundant!  Thank you for sharing your blessings with those who are less fortunate this Holiday season.  Special thanks to Linda Lewis and Marty Curole for making the teddy bear project become a reality!


From Santa Claus to Uncle Sam

T’is the season for giving to Uncle Sam?  That’s right, it is tax season once again.  And we are looking for a few good volunteers.  AGA will be providing income tax assistance at Clearview Shopping Center for four consecutive Tuesdays in 2003.  The dates of these Tuesdays are March 11, March 18, March 25 and April 1.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Betty Salisbury at 504-255-2344 or Betty.Salisbury@usda.gov.

Community Service Collections Continue

(1)   Old Cell Phones to be reprogrammed and distributed to battered women to be used in emergency situations;
(2)   Books and magazines for La Fon’s Senior Citizen Center;
(3)   New or used maternity and baby clothing, baby toys, and diapers for the Crisis Pregnancy Center; and
(4)   Toiletries for the homeless.

Please consider supporting one or more of the above mentioned community service opportunities.  Thank you for your support and consideration.  Contact Betty Salisbury (504-255-2344) or Gerry Knepp (504-255-4602) for additional information.

To all of our sponsors, we appreciate your efforts with the growth of the New Orleans Chapter of AGA. Continue to keep up the good work!!

The following list includes sponsors from May 2002 through December 2002:

If you interested in joining this distinguished list of sponsors, START RECRUITING TODAY!

Member’s Only Site

Use your member ID number and password (your first initial and last name with no spaces) to access this exclusive site for members only.  If you need member ID number, contact Linda Lewis at 504-255-5902.

Renew your AGA Membership Online

AGA members can renew membership online via the “Members Only” section of the AGA website.  To renew online, just access the “Members Only” site, login, then press the “Renew Your Dues/CGFM Online” button.  Your information is updated immediately into the AGA database.

The New Orleans Chapter held it’s first training course for the program year and it was a great success!  Bill Johnston, Regional Coordinator for Chapter Assistance & Development for the South Central Region, gave a three-hour presentation on Statistical Sampling on December 12.  We received many positive responses on the course.  Thank you to all of you who attended the course.  Despite holiday time and uncertain budgets we had twenty participants and were able to make a nice profit that was used to support the Christmas party.  We will hold two more courses this program year including an Ethics course and another accounting related training.  Please contact Marcie Tureaud or Chris Cutitto with your needs and or ideas for future training.

ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTANTS
New Orleans Chaprer

2002-2003

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 






AGA NATIONAL DUES INCREASE

The National Board of Directors (NBD) has supported the National Executive Committee’s recommendations and approved a new dues structure, the following changes to AGA’s membership categories and a dues increase will be incorporated into the 2003-04 renewal packages and will take effect April 1, 2003:

•  Full members will be categorized into either Full Government or Private Sector members, Dues increase to $90 and $150 respectively;
• Early Career member dues increase to $45;
• Student member dues increase to $30;
• Retired member dues increase to $30;

Group member dues increase to $70 (this is in addition to the organization fee).

Ninety of the 124 voting members of the NBD, or 73 percent, participated in the decision making process and cast their ballot, I know this was not an easy decision for any of us, and we really appreciate everyone taking the time to consider the proposal and voting, The final count was 64 yes and 26 no

Thank you for your support, this vote for the new dues structure enables AGA to continue its work of advancing government accountability.

As AGA’s National President, I stand by my words and promise you that your National Executive Committee and the National Office staff will continue to do everything possible to control expenses and maximize non-dues revenues, and ensure that AGA is run as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns, suggestions, and/or questions.  I can be reached at 202.512.9319 or andersonw@gao.gov, again, thank you for your continued support.

May you and your families have a joyous holiday Season, I look forward to working with everyone in 2003.

William J. Anderson Jr., National President

National Leadership Conference

We need your help in promoting the 2003 National Leadership Conference to all AGA chapters. The conference will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building, International Trade Center, Washington, DC, February 20-21, 2003.  For more information about this fantastic event, go to: http://www.agacgfm.org/nlc/index.htm <http://www.agacgfm.org/nlc/index.htm

This conference will bring together the top leaders from all levels of government to discuss the issues most pressing to government accountability professionals in a new and challenging environment. It offers an opportunity to bring together a variety of members and speakers to hear discussions that will equally benefit federal, state and local government professionals.

If you have any questions about this message, contact jcurtin@agacgfm.org <mailto:jcurtin@agacgfm.org>.

Topics

The December 2002 issue of the Government Financial Management TOPICS newsletter is now available for viewing online. To access the issue, go to: http://www.agacgfm.org/publications/m_pubstopics.htm. There is a PDF file and a Word file version of this issue for your viewing convenience.

The December issue features articles on:
- AGA's First NLC Attracts Top Speakers
- Join Team REAP - Recruit New AGA Members
- State & Local Awards
- Denver Chapter Kicks Off 50th Anniversary
- Register for First National Leadership Conference (NLC)

If you have any questions or comments about this message, please contact jcurtin@agacgfm.org.

Enjoy!

Opportunity to serve your local Chapter

The Chapter is looking for interested members to become co-editors of the newsletter for next year.  The current editors would like to give other members the opportunity to become actively involved with a wonderful Chapter activity.  If you are interested please contact Lila Thompson at 504-255-6123 or lila.thompson@usda.gov or Barbara Smith @ 504-255-6276 or barbara.smith3@ usda.gov.

We are also in need of e-mail addresses from approximately eighty AGA members.  Distributing the newsletters via e-mail each month would save the chapter approximately $300 per year.  If you did not receive this newsletter via e-mail, please provide your e-mail address to Linda Lewis, our membership chair, by contacting her at 504-255-5902 or Linda.lewis2@usda.gov.

Happy

New

Years!

P.O. Box 29186
New Orleans, LA 70189-0186



TIME VALUE MATERIAL
PLEASE EXPEDITE

Please contact Linda Lewis (255-5902)
with address corrections.