An Open Letter to MRTA Members

A few months ago MRTA President Walt Cochran and I sent you a beautiful refrigerator magnet announcing the 50th Birthday of the MRTA. To celebrate MRTA’s Birthday we have set a goal to retire the mortgage on our office facility in 2010. The Birthday Celebration and the Annual Meeting are part of our past, but our commitment to retire the mortgage is greater than ever.

The goal to retire the mortgage is achievable, but it will take every member’s effort to do so. To reach our goal we are asking every unit and every member to contribute $50 for 50 years of MRTA service. I know that each of you shares with me my pride in the new office and many have responded with a birthday contribution. MRTF just reported its greatest fund-raising year ever. Your gifts were received and immediately sent to the Bank to reduce the loan. With gifts, raffles and other fund-raising we were able to pay $137,000 on the mortgage before December 31, 2010.

Every dollar matters, your dollars have already made a monumental difference, by reducing the mortgage more than $137,000. On behalf of the Foundation, Association and Staff, I want to extend thanks to each of you for your continued support. To others, we must continue to ask. I would like to convey our feeling of urgency in retiring the mortgage before the end of the year.

A quote from our original letter: “For every dollar you donate to the MRTF Building Fund you will reduce the total cost of our office facility by $4.29 OR put another way, if you donate $50 for MRTA’s Birthday you will reduce the cost of the office facility by $214.50! This is how interest works. We need your generous tax deductible contribution today!

Our new office facility is a once in a lifetime project, a once in 50 year event. The image and influence of MRTA has increased 1,000 fold in the Capitol City of Jefferson City. This building has told the world that MRTA is here to stay. Your building is your billboard! The message of this new office is that MRTA will be protecting and enhancing our retirement benefits and benefits for future generations of MRTA members.”

It is no secret that the longer we are in debt paying for the building the more interest we will pay. This makes it imperative that we continue asking for assistance. We must continue to seek contribution from those who have made individual contributions, as well as those who have not. If you are a first time contributor; every contribution is acknowledged and is tax deductible for both income and estate taxes. Fifty dollars is such a small amount to pay for MRTA’s 50 years.

If at all possible, I am asking you to accept the challenge to donate a minimum of 10% of your tax savings brought to you by the 2007 MRTA sponsored legislation (HB 444). For the tax year of 2009, 50% of your retirement income was tax exempt from Missouri income taxes. The average tax savings for MRTA tax payers was $1,168 and for 2010 we can expect an additional 15%. With no COLA for 2010 and 2011, I cannot imagine what it would be like if MRTA had not been instrumental in providing us with this tax savings.

With such a small staff and continuous fund-raising we are depriving you and every member of the MRTA expanded services and benefits. We must eliminate this debt so that the MRTA can concentrate on protecting our PSRS, enhancing membership services and promoting the retiree and public education.

The Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation and the Missouri Retired Teachers Association wants to thank all MRTA members for their contribution. No contribution is too small or too large to be appreciated.

Please make checks payable to the: Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation

Jane Fullerton, President

Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation