[2025duesreviewcommittee] 2025 Dues Review Committee

Thu Jul 31 09:58:14 PDT 2025

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Roger is not available the week I proposed, and I think his input is going to be important.

Will any of these dates work the week before?

September 8
th
at 10am
September 8
th
at 3pm
September 9
th
at 9am
September 9
th
at 3pm

Paul

From:
2025duesreviewcommittee
 <2025duesreviewcommittee-bounces at washingtonlandtitle.com>
On Behalf Of
Paul Hofmann
Sent:
Tuesday, July 29, 2025 12:14 PM
To:
George Peters <execdirector at washingtonlandtitle.com>; '2025 Dues Review Committee' <2025duesreviewcommittee at washingtonlandtitle.com>
Subject:
Re: [2025duesreviewcommittee] 2025 Dues Review Committee

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Can we put a kickoff meeting on the books for the week of September 15-19th?

The industry has undergone significant changes, with underwriters management shifting to a broader regional approach and no longer being an active part of WLTA, agents like myself
 covering a wider range of counties, and the overall consolidation of the title industry. Given these shifts, I believe it’s time for us, as an association, to re-evaluate our perspective and adapt our approach to better align with the evolving industry landscape.

I’d like everyone to review the attached materials and come with ideas for a framework that you think could work. There are no bad ideas - let’s be creative! I remember the last
 time we worked on this project. It was a real challenge, and it could have been part of what sent Jack Lancaster into retirement.

Tuesdays are always an open day for me, intentionally.  However, I will make myself flexible that week because we have some real work ahead of us.

Paul

From:
2025duesreviewcommittee
 <
2025duesreviewcommittee-bounces at washingtonlandtitle.com (mailto:2025duesreviewcommittee-bounces at washingtonlandtitle.com)
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On Behalf Of
George Peters
Sent:
Monday, July 28, 2025 10:23 AM
To:
'2025 Dues Review Committee' <
2025duesreviewcommittee at washingtonlandtitle.com (mailto:2025duesreviewcommittee at washingtonlandtitle.com)
>
Subject:
[2025duesreviewcommittee] 2025 Dues Review Committee
Importance:
High

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:

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 208
th
St SW, #328, Lynnwood, WA 98036
206-437-5869 (Mobile)
206-260-4731 (Fax)
execdirector at washingtonlandtitle.com (mailto:execdirector at wltaonline.org)

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