By Linda Scrivner 

LEWISBURG, Tenn. – The TWHBEA General Membership meeting was held at TWHBEA Headquarters in Lewisburg, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. The meeting was called to order by President Steve Smith, who stated that it had been a good year. When he took office he promised to wipe the red off their books and they had come very close to doing that in 2014. The Association should be a little above the red this year. Helping with that is the fact that more mares were bred than in the previous year. He spoke of the many things that had been trimmed off the budget. He reported that they had changed the Voice magazine to be done out-of-house, which allowed the Voice to make money this year. Last year they spent $9,000 on this meeting along. This year Smith cut off the breakfast for this meeting and are saving $1,500 on the lunch tomorrow for the International Board of Directors meeting…these two things alone saved $7,500. The Banquet last year cost $14,000, with the Banquet and food combined growing to $25,000. Instead this year there was coffee and cookies available. “Great things have happened, we have more revenue and cut expenses,” he continued.

Smith said, “I am pleased to have the opportunity to serve you guys. It has been a labor of love and I’ve received instant gratification. This year there has been no tension in our meetings.” He also stated that $500,000 is needed in the bank before taking on additional projects. 

Several awards were presented, which will be with the Banquet story later this evening. Senior Vice-President Walt Chism spoke next and stated that they had readjusted fees, moving past due to June, which helped with the registry. One thing that would be very helpful to the organization is that Steve Smith had been able to get money from the Walking Horse license plates to be given to TWHBEA. This should bring in around $60,000 a year. He also stated that there were things that didn’t get done because of cutbacks; such as the computer update and the DNA Quality Control program. Chism expresessed that he enjoyed serving the association for 25-27 years and that they had “Come a Long way, baby”, with things such as the IPEDs.   

The floor was then opened for questions from the various committees, with questions allowed to be asked. Christy Lantis, VP of the Administrative/Fiscal/Audit said that her complete report would be given Saturday. Virginia Stewart asked for a quick summary so Smith and Lantis related some important facts. They had received $16,088 from the state on licenses from July-September, which was better than anticipated. Also, the Association had a profit for the last six months, which had not been done in years. Lantis said that the cash on hand was $146,000 and they hadn’t tapped into their reserves this year. In October cash on hand was $385,000; the highest since 2004. In addition, they had the building reassessed and saved $11,000 in taxes in 2014 and will also save that amount in 2015. Bids for services were also put up, and accounting costs with Winnett are less than previous ones.