RA Meeting Scheduled - Sunday Oct. 2nd at 1pm (Pacific Time)

This Sunday, October 2nd, the Neualtenburg Representative Assembly will meet at 1:00 PM GT (Pacific Time) at the Rathaus. All citizens are welcome and encouraged to attend. Non-citizens may attend for observational purposes only.

Summary

This bill seeks to define the nature of the Neualtenburg Bond, to ensure its worth, return on investment, and cost to the city. If accepted, the changes would be retroactive for existing bonds. Changes include a fixed duration and return, well-defined methods for converting investments to land-use fees, and guarantees in the event of dissolution.


Neualtenburg Bonds

1. par value - I recommend a factor of 1.12 times the purchase price (the nominal) as the par value. Thus if someone purchased US$100 in N-bonds, the par value would be US$112.
   
2. maturity date - The original city bond sales took place on about the 1 Apr 2005, with the first sale on about the 1 Jun 2005. In the future, bonds should mature at six months from the date of issue. In the case of the original bonds, I recommend setting the maturity date at six months from the date of the first land sale. Thus the first bonds would mature on 1 Dec 2005 and all other bonds six months after issue.
   
3. rate type - Bonds should return at a fixed (as opposed to variable) rate.
   
4. coupon dates - Coupon dates should be monthly and coincide with land-use fee due dates such that citizens can use their coupon to pay for land-use fees, otherwise coupons are paid to them in US$ or held in a separate account (by the city bank).
   
5. callability - Bonds will not be callable (meaning the city can not opt to pay them back early).
   
6. puttability - Bonds can not be put in the traditional sense, where a bond holder can demand early repayment from the city. Instead, there will be monthly bond put dates, where a bond holder can have up to their monthly land-use fees (minus the coupon) deducted from the issue price. This will decrease the size of the next coupon and the par value of course.
   
7. convertibility - When bonds are mature they can be transferred to other city securities (currently we have no other securities.
   
8. dissolution - In the event the cooperative ceases to exist, bond holders will be given proportional shares of government-owned land from the sim or sims that the bonds were issued to support.

Example

Ulrika buys US$300 worth of N-bonds. The par value would be US$336 with a term of six months. Coupon dates are every month, so there will be six monthly coupons of US$6. At the end of six months, Ulrika will be paid US$300.

Ulrika decides that she wants to pay for her US$30 land-use fees using her N-bond. After the first month, she receives a US$6 coupon and deducts the maximum allowed US$24 from her bond to cover the fee. Her new nominal, par value, and coupon after the partial call would be US$276, US$303.60, and US$5.52.


Calculations

Par value, P, is equal to the nominal, N, times a factor:

The factor, f, is equal to a monthly return times the number of months left until maturity, n:

The coupon, C, is equal to the the par value minus the nominal divided by the number of months left until maturity:


~Ulrika~

Summary

The largest texture allowed in the city will be 512x512 pixels. This applies to all covenant zones and all structures unless overridden by the Guild Master.

~Ulrika~

Summary

1. Recognize that our liability, U, is fixed and that the exchange rate, R', floats.
   
2. The city would update a "city exchange rate" automatically every month (without approval of the RA) set to GOM or LL Exchange plus 10%. This will lock in a fixed positive error rate (Equation (5)).
   
3. The city will do accounting in both US$ and L$ to satisfy those who want constant numbers, U, and those who want floating numbers, L'.

Details

In our current accounting system the price of land-use fees in US$, U, is transformed to L$, L, using a fixed exchange rate, R.

When we collect payments, the land-use fees in L$, L, are then transformed to different US$, U', via a different, changing exchange rate, R'.

In this case every value is fixed except the variables with a prime, namely the outgoing exchange rate, R', and the resulting US$, U'. Because our fees are in US$, the error in collected fees is:

The fixed Nburg rate, R, was set to be 250 L$/US$ plus 10% or 275 L$/US$. The current rate, R', is 300 L$/US$. Thus our shortfall in moving from U to U' is:


The proposed solution is to recognize that the only constant is the liability set by LL in US$, given by U. To do this we simply have to set the exchange rate in Equation (1), R, equal to the GOM rate plus 10%.

With this our error will be a constant

This amount would automatically floats without RA approval each month because the city recognizes that our liabilities in U are unchanging.

~Ulrika~

Thanks Ulrika! I'll be sure to get these into Notecards (and onto the Agenda) for the Meeting Sunday!

complex mathematics makes the baby jesus cry.

Summary

The Guild shall be free to make modification to city structures on city land provided those modifications don't significantly alter the layout of the city or adversely affect the performance of the sim. Changes which affect the layout of the city or adversely affect the performance of the sim should be discussed publicly by the Guild, submitted as a bill, and then voted upon by the RA.


Philosophy

The philosophy behind this law is that it will allow members of the Guild to make changes to city structures when the creative urge strikes them while avoiding the delay associated with seeking an RA approval. In return any large changes to the city layout, including moving, replacing, renaming, rezoning, etc. city buildings, streets, lots, etc. will be approved in advance by the RA. The goal is to strike a balance between supporting creativity and protecting the existing structure of the city.

~Ulrika~

Just a reminder of this meeting today. Lots on the agenda today so I hope all of the RA can be there. So far we have had every RA member at every RA meeting. YAY!!!

See you there!

Sure if the Guild does the work for free. If they expect to be paid, I think it should be submitted as a bill.

That would fall under "needed city buildings". As we have already been doing. Any work the guild wants to do for free is always fine by me. hehe

By the way, all proposals in this thread are now on notecards and included in today's meeting Agenda.

Sudane announced that one bill passed. How did the others fare?

~Ulrika~

Bah! Ok. Hate me. I've been working on the summary and such. This week sucks for formal business because of RL overtime and getting ready for NY. And just needing time to vegg out. I promise I promise! before tomorrow evening I will have the logs and actions posted.

No rush! I know I have to wait for the official announcement. I was just hoping for a sneak preview.

Remember, Neualtenburg is like Jamaica. There's no worries here, mon.

~Ulrika~

Aharrr, I'm thinking that be the place o' pirates. What be the plan in case o' invasion, me hearties?

Jamaica, Queens?

Long Islander's favorite LIRR transfer...

Well, first we would have to provide a harbour and some water that the pirates could use for their ships.

Mel

It could be done! I have a cunning plan involving a new floating sim cunningly attaching itself to Nburg's southern shore, in a cunning way by night, stealthy-like.

You're not a Black Adder fan by any chance are you?

Me? No, I haven't got this site bookmarked at all.

Baldric! Is that you?

How cunning!