Membership Dues Explained
It is that time of year again when most of you will be paying membership dues. For Regular and Student Members, the AFM uses a quarterly system. The important paid-thru dates to remember are March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, and December 31st. Your membership is in good standing if you are paid through the previous quarter. We have a one-month grace period for dues payments, which means, for example, that if you were paid through December 31st, you have until January 31st to pay some more dues before any late fees are assessed. Then in February, a $5 late fee would be added, and in March that late fee would rise to $10. After three months of non-payment, your membership goes into suspension, and the reinstatement fee is $25. After six months of non-payment, then your membership is dropped. For Regular and Student Members, membership dues are $35 per quarter. They can also be paid Semi-Annually, at the rate of $70, or if you pay for the whole year at once, there is a $5 savings – Annual Dues are only $135.
For Life and Youth Members, the AFM uses an annual system. Annual Dues for both these types of members are $99. The grace period and late fee system works the same way as for Regular and Student Members. To qualify for Life Membership in our Local, one must be a) at least 70 years of age, and b) have had continuous membership in the AFM (though not necessarily all in one Local) for at least 35 years. Both these requirements must be met to qualify. To qualify for Youth Membership, one must be under the age of 21. Once you turn 21, you automatically become a Regular member.
Our Local has never invoiced membership dues in the past, though we do send reminder emails a few weeks after your paid through date if you have not paid before that time. There are also notices about dues in every newsletter.
If you are moving or retiring and wanted to resign your membership, AFM bylaws require a written resignation letter within the period through which your dues are paid. An email is fine for this purpose. One common question I get asked is if one has to maintain one’s membership to receive your pension. This is not the case – once you have earned those pension benefits, they are yours and you will be paid them regardless of your membership status. The pension fund, AFM-EPF, is an entirely separate organization, and if you have any questions about your account, you must contact the AFM-EPF directly. The phone number is 800-833-8065.
Our Local also has a $2000 Death Benefit, which we self-fund. The account for this is in our own Musicians Federal Credit Union. You do have to still be a member in good standing at the time of your death for your beneficiary to be eligible to receive this benefit. You should have filled out a beneficiary card when you joined. If you have not, or if you would like to update your beneficiary, a card can be filled out here. If there is no beneficiary card on file, we can still pay the benefit to your estate, however this requires that there actually be an estate account and a probated will, so we strongly advise all members to designate a specific individual(s).
If you have any questions about any of this, please call me at 817-469-6040 x102, or email me at apino@musiciansdfw.org.