I just saw a summary of a recent (Nov 2008) USA Cycling meet-up on Nebraska's web site, which Google landed me on when I was looking for something else. This was part of the summary:
In 2006, USA Cycling paid out 90 liability claims totaling $312,000.
In 2007, USA Cycling paid out 132 liability claims totaling $499,000.
In 2008, claims are tracking to total more than $700,000.
Because of this, the annual license fee will likely rise from $60 to $70 in 2009.
http://www.nebraskacycling.org/content/view/46/14/ [1]
Was anyone from NCNCA at this meeting and was that discussed at all? It's a lot for a license already, and that reasoning for the extra 10 beans doesn't seem to add up...it's an extra $630,000 which is in itself more than enough to self-insure these claims they're talking about.
And was the extra money for "claims" in 2008 vs 06/07 because USAC lost that case against Sue "It's not about the money" Haywood [2] to the tune of $319k? Did they lose Bisceglia's wrongful termination suit too? Thank god Les didn't hit them this year too! :lol:
From USAC's last tax filing on Form 990 [3] the organization looks pretty flush these days so I don't get why the already too-expensive license is getting even pricier. The extra $34k that would be collected from NCNCA's 3,400 members via a $10/license increase is enough to buy that Finishlynx camera and a transponder for the chip timing system. What do we get if it goes to CO instead? Insurance/liability looks fully funded already.
Blech,
-Tad