[2025duesreviewcommittee] 2025 Dues Review Committee

Mon Jul 28 10:22:50 PDT 2025

Good morning all. This is a reminder that you are on a committee to review
the WLTA's dues structure, particularly with respect to how dues for agent
members are calculated and how all dues (agents and underwriters) can be
equitably allocated between and among all members.

The members of this committee are:

Paul Hofmann, Chair (agent)

Roger Johnson (agent)

Megan Powell (underwriter)

Chris Rollins (underwriter)

Ashley Callahan (WLTA President; de facto member of all committees)

George Peters (Co-Executive Director; de facto member of all committees)

Sean Holland (Co-Executive Director; de facto member of all committees)

(You are all included in the listserv email
2025duesreviewcommittee at washingtonlandtitle.com
<mailto:2025duesreviewcommittee at washingtonlandtitle.com> ; you should have
gotten an email Friday notifying you of the creation of the listserv and
your addition to it.)

Attached are the list of WLTA members showing 2025 dues. There are 3
documents:

Calculation sheet for underwriters (note that Doma will not be a separate
dues paying underwriter; acquired by TRGC)

Underwriter List with Dues

Agent List with Dues

BACKGROUND:

1.	The current dues structure dates to about 10 years ago, created by
Jack Lancaster. Note that the WLTA's year in January to December, so the
budget is adopted near the end of the year, dues are calculated and invoices
prepared by the end of December and emailed to members on January 1 or 2.
The contact information for dues purposes are shown on the attached lists.

2.	The formula adopted provided that underwriters would pay 70% of the
budget for dues, and agents would pay 30%. 

3.	The 70% share paid by underwriters would be further allocated based
on publicly reported income. This information is available on the ALTA's
website. Note that the full year is not available when the dues are
calculated, so the income that is used is for the full previous year that is
reported. Thus, when the dues for 2025 were calculated, the only full
reported year was for 2024.

4.	The 30% share paid by agents would be further allocated among agents
based on the population of counties served by that agent. (NOTE: It was
deemed important in that income for agent members would not be reported or
available for disclosure; it is not public like underwriter income.) As an
alternative approach, Jack created a population range as shown on the
attached agent list. Each year when dues are calculated, the percentage
increase/decrease from the year before is applied to each range number.

5.	The number of independently owned agents has been significantly
reduced over the years. A small agent might be acquired by another agent, or
an agent of any size might be acquired by an underwriter. The WLTA bylaws
state that FOR DUES PURPOSES an agent is considered part of an underwriter
if that agent is more than 50% owned by that underwriter. Thus, while such
an agent is shown in the WLTA directory as an agent member, it does not pay
separate dues.

6.	This reduction in the number of dues paying agents (as shown on the
agent dues list; see the "x'd" out entries) does not reflect the original
intent of the dues structure. This is not to say the dues structure then or
now was good or bad, or better or worse - only that it was considered
equitable then and is not equitable now based on the original formula. 

The committee should start its deliberations. One function might be to
contact other associations around the country. (As my personal comment: Note
that some associations' membership might be based on individuals. This would
be a complex and difficult formula to work with. Aside from trying to
maintain a database of individuals, invoicing and collecting dues, employees
of companies might not all be dues paying members, for example. It would
appear that maintaining membership our structure of company members would be
more practical.)

Paul, do you want to organize a Zoom meeting?

George

George Peters, WTP

Co-Executive Director

Washington Land Title Association

 <https://washingtonlandtitle.com/> https://washingtonlandtitle.com 

Mail: PO Box 328, Lynnwood, WA 98046

Delivery: 6817 208th St SW, #328, Lynnwood, WA 98036

206-437-5869 (Mobile)

206-260-4731 (Fax)

 <mailto:execdirector at wltaonline.org> execdirector at washingtonlandtitle.com

This is a confidential communication intended solely for the named
recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy it and call
George Peters at 206-437-5869 immediately. Thank you.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 92 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 6078 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 68742 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1-2025 WLTA Dues Contact List - Agents - worksheet Handout.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 155010 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0003.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1 2025 WLTA Dues Contact List - Underwriters - 2025 worksheet.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 128295 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0004.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2025 All underwriters - Calculation Sheet.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 144866 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.washingtonlandtitle.com/pipermail/2025duesreviewcommittee/attachments/20250728/a9141629/attachment-0005.pdf>