Erie Looking Productions

I want to bring you some figures to explain what is going on in terms of the financial requests you might have seen online discourse concerning.

Erie Looking Productions is not something that is cost-free. There are costs involved. One of our biggest is telecommunications. Unlike gasoline prices, those rates are not decreasing.

Our engineer will be losing his day job in January. He already had one “Hail Mary” extension on his job previously but it is quite unlikely that he may be granted another 90 day extension. Much of the work that goes into producing this podcast as well as the vodcast has been funded off the back of what he earned. That source of capital disappears on January 16th.

Right now Nevada has an unemployment rate higher than the national average at 8%. While the engineer has been earnestly and forthrightly looking for new work. With cutbacks and growth slowing, it has not been unreasonable for jobs locally to be getting hundreds of applications and inquiries. As for our staff writer, it is best not to discuss his travails.

Things are not going to be much better if the crew is moved elsewhere in the United States. In terms of medical matters, things are stable for now and relocation would not be beneficial in terms of treatment. For better or for worse, Las Vegas is where this crew is.

You've seen the figure of $78,000 put forward as a full-year's full-time operation costs. Let me break that down for you. In terms of tax law, $23,400 would have to be set aside to be paid over to the United States government. That is estimated at double what the figure would be on this year's taxes. The reason for that is that we cannot know with any certainty what may be done in terms of revoking tax cuts in the new administration. Right now we're planning high in hopes we don't get caught short when it comes to taxes.

Out of the remaining $54,600 we would have to pay two people, handle rising telecommunications costs, and also occasionally replace equipment that breaks. Equipment does get old. While we can do things on make-shift bases, a smoother program would be presented if we could pay to replace and fix equipment.

We've worked out the numbers. For a single month's full operating cost, we have to raise $6,500. That is equivalent to 35 librarians paying ALA & LITA annual dues that month. 'That's also the equivalent of air fare for 16 people traveling between Chattanooga and Denver for ALA Mid-winter 2009 via US Airways. These are dollars that most library administrations don't bat an eyelash at spending. We can provide current awareness and other information support without greatly increasing your carbon footprint.

If you wish to give, please direct any checks or PayPal transmissions to Blake Carver in lieu of sending things straight to us in Las Vegas. Doing so is a predicate part in ensuring we meet some of the legal definitions of a media outlet that wouldn't be met if we paid ourselves directly. If you don't wish to give, please at least keep this crew in your prayers. As things stand presently, January 16th is the “do or die” date when something has to give.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.