Much of the following is a simple going over of things that everyone knows. Please forgive me, then, because the concepts here are really at the heart of things.
A realistic money account in SL is the account of an avatar. An account allows you to know the money flow in (the deposits) and the money flow out (the checks and other payments). Having these flows clear, and being able to report them to the group, is of the highest importance to quality transparent government in Neualtenburg.
An avatar is the extension of an individual RL person. And that avatar’s money account is backed by the RL person’s credit card. This structure is obviously set by LL to ensure a secure cash flow for the company.
So, for the government of Neualtenburg to have a transparent and manageable system for doing its finances, it must build that system on one or more avatar money accounts, each backed by a resident’s credit card. Assigning and transferring those money accounts therefore becomes the foundation on which the whole financial system sits.
In the development phase of Neualtenburg, Ulrika has volunteered her alt, Uma Bauhaus, (and, her credit card backing) as the money account for the city. She established an alt, just for banking, so that the password for that alt can be shared, thereby allowing multiple people access to the money details. That’s the core model.
We must now establish offices, the “Chancellor”, the “Treasury Secretary”, (whatever it is in German)(!?). Each person holding that office; and I am sure that sub-offices will be needed as well, will establish an alt with their credit card. A committee will be designated to share the password of that alt with the officer, so there is transparency. And that committee will have the responsibility for the financial report issued to the Guild, the RA, and the city at large.
And, most important, that officer will hold a term of office, perhaps coincident with the term of the RA members, during which they will have this responsibility. At the end of this term, it is very important that a new person be appointed to assume this responsibility (obviously, the existing officer could be re-elected), and that new office-holder establish their own alt with their own credit card for the purpose of holding city funds. Funds will be transferred from the old alt to the new alt.
To start off, I propose a Financial Committee of 3 people from the RA and 2 people from the Guild (who are not also in the RA), since both groups have constitutionally established budget responsibilities. One of the RA members will be elected Chancellor of the City (I defer to the German speakers for the correct title), and two other members will be elected Sub-Chancellor for the Casino and Sub-Chancellor for Rentals and Commerce. Each of those three officers will establish an alt, and all the alt passwords will be shared with all members of the Financial Committee.
The alt of the Chancellor of the City will serve the role that Uma serves now. It will be the repository of the various revenues which arrive mostly from the other two alts, and its transactions will provide the principal financial report of the city.
The purpose of the other 2 alts is described in their names. They are separated from the main alt for very important reasons. The underlying concept behind this whole system is transparency and a clear manner of reporting the financial performance and position of the city. The casino, for example, will have many many in and out transactions, even in a short a space as an hour. Additionally, it must maintain a substantial cash balance to handle these hourly affairs. None of that information is directly relevant to the overall financial position of the city. Rather, what’s important from the casino information is the weekly and monthly increases in its cash balance, which is then easily transferred to the main city account as a simple “earnings” transaction.
Clearly, the heaviest burden of responsibility falls on the Chancellor of the City, whose alt/credit card carries the responsibility for delivering US$195 to the Lindens each month (after we go to the private sim). That alt will receive revenues from the other alts. It will also receive loans and gifts from various Neualtenburg citizens. These must all be recorded and defined. We may wish to limit the amount of gift which any individual citizen may contribute, since it may be detrimental to the affairs of the city to have a few big gift givers. Many societies would consider this a conflict of interest.
And, above all, that responsibility must be transferred periodically to a new office holder. All money account responsibility must be borne by any individual for only a limited length of time. This is the essence of a healthy financial system.
This proposal sets out just the concepts. There are a lot of details to propose. But I suggest that this proposal, as modified by other folks’ comments, be submitted to the RA for its approval, so that the work of setting all this up is based on a voted-on consensus.
Sudane