Green Mountain Payroll Association

www.greenmountainpayroll.netfirms.com

Minutes

Thursday, March 19, 2009

National Life, Montpelier, VT

1) Intro - President, Robin Spitzer called the meeting to order and introduced the new officers elected at the Nov. 2008 meeting. Robin also recognized any new GMPA members present at the meeting who later received a GMPA tote bag as a welcome gift.

2) Minutes – Secretary, Pearl Vargas read the minutes from the Nov. 2008 meeting. A motion was placed to accept the Nov. 2008 minutes, seconded, and approved by the membership.

3) Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer, Norma Leach read the treasurer’s report. For period ending March 2009 we had a beginning balance of $6,611.77 with income from membership dues of $2,410.00 and expenses as follows: Net Firms (Website) of $59.40, Payroll Source Books of $1,810.10 and Passumpsic Bank (new checks) of $17.85 for a total of $1,887.35, leaving us with a balance of $7,134.42.

4) Old Business –

a. GMPA Policy/Procedures and By-Laws were amended and will be sent via email.

b. The NEPC conference invitational post card was sent out. If you did not receive one and want the information you may contact Lorraine Tolman by email at lorraine@gramsbooks.biz. The 2009-2010 conference will cost $375.00.

5) New Business –

a. Payroll Source books have been ordered and will be mailed out to those who ordered one. One extra source book was purchased to a drawing prize at our upcoming conference

b. President, Robin Spitzer asked the attending membership what they would like to see GMPA do. Please give us your thoughts on what you’d like GMPA to offer as new opportunities or agenda ideas for our meetings. (one immediate thought from the floor was if the Gay Marriage law passes, how will it effect payroll and benefits)

c. Brought up was a resistance that electronic pay employee’s do not want to obtain pay stubs from on-line due to having no home computer or access to one. Making a Kiosk available was suggested.

d. Cutting costs in payroll by using new technology was also brought up. Anything new we don’t know about?

e. As GMPA membership grows, we may not be able to meet at National Life due to space. Does anyone have suggestions on other Central Vermont locations? Noble Hall at Vermont College was suggested. Parking areas was also a concern for our meetings. Janis Blais informed us there is a parking garage at the end of the facility at National Life that can be used should finding spots in front be difficult.

f. The GMPA Annual Conference will be held Sept. 22, 2009 at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier, VT. The conference committee is: Janis Blais, Judy Bernier, Susan Sanborn, and the GMPA officers. Anyone that would like to help please let Janis Blais know.

g. Scholarships for either the NEPC or GMPA conference are available to GMPA members only and the deadline to apply is 04/15/09. Submit your request for a scholarship to President, Robin Spitzer at robin@ivycomputer.com. Detail why you think you should receive the scholarship and how it would benefit you as a payroll person. Two $250.00 scholarships were approved for the conferences.

6) Committee Reports -

a. Vice President, Laurie Thompson spoke on education and urged members to study for the CPP test to become a Certified Payroll Professional. There is a CPP website with the APA that provides a list of study groups and gives a sample test.

b. GMPA meetings, as well as conferences do give certification credits to keep certification current.

c. GMPA membership is continuing to grow. Keep spreading the word.

7) Education Program Guest Speaker –

a. Wendy Campbell from the IRS spoke about the new American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. This has already begun for some, but has a deadline to begin 04/01/09. It encompasses issues such as COBRA, tax withholding, tax credit to individuals and couples, 941 Quarterly Tax Reports, and much more.

b. Wendy suggested going to the IRS website and clicking on the Update on Recovery Tax Provisions for Individuals and Businesses and reviewing what the site has to offer on regulations for these new laws.

c. New COBRA rules seemed to be a large concern and the IRS website does give a Question and Answer for employers on this subject.

d. Talk was brought up about end of year tax return credits on this new recovery act pertained mainly to the $400 individual credit and the $800 joint credit.

Go to www.irs.gov and check out the new information on these topics. Wendy Campbell also said we could email her directly at wendy.w.campbell@irs.gov. If she doesn’t specifically know the answer she will forward to the counsel and get the answer. Once Wendy has an answer she will send it to our President, Robin Spitzer and Robin will email the questions and answers to the membership.

8) Our next meeting is May 21, 2009.