S.T.A.R.S. Anthology File No. #006 Christmas Survival Tactics
It was late in the evening, far later than Captain Marini or Captain Wesker had originally anticipated, but it was necessary to for them to have this private meeting. Captain Wesker had finished balancing the quarterly budget for S.T.A.R.S. and there was a lot to cover. The good news was, due to Captain Wesker's vigilance and careful spending, there was forty-five thousand dollars left from their three-hundred seventy-five-thousand-dollar quarterly budget. While it was good that their budget was perfectly intact, any additional money left at the end of the year needed to be reconciled before January 1st.
"So, after all the new equipment acquisitions, trainings, and professional development in-services for this quarter," Captain Wesker said sternly sliding over the lengthy budget report to Enrico. "We have forty-five thousand dollars left in our quarterly budget. Do you have any ideas on what to do with it?"
"You said we can't keep it for next year, right?" Enrico asked thumbing through the pages.
"That is correct." Wesker replied. "It all has to be spent by 5:00 PM on the thirty-first."
Enrico shook his head then said, "I can't think of anything to do with it. I mean we have the best of everything weapons and equipment wise and I don't think there's another in-service to give before the end of the year. I don't see why we can't just keep it for next year."
"I understand your lamentations." Wesker said. "But if the money is not reconciled, there may be a massive internal audit of our budget and that could delay any investigations we start going into the New Year."
Enrico grumbled.
"We could do one of two things." Wesker said. "We could donate the money to some police charitable organization or give it to the team as an end of the year bonus."
"Well…" Enrico hesitated but then spoke. "Not to sound selfish, but I would much rather the team have it."
"Really?" Captain Wesker said sounding genuinely surprised that Enrico would think a little self-interestedly.
"Not to be mean or anything," He began. "But we have given so much of our time and money to various charities this year; the bachelor auction for the Widowed Police Officers Association, our Be A STAR Program and other youth crime prevention events, plus we just wrapped up our Christmas toy drive. What's wrong with wanting to keep some of that money for ourselves?"
"You make a valid point." Captain Wesker agreed.
"You said there was $45,000 dollars left right?" Enrico asked.
"That is correct." Wesker replied.
"So that's what per-person?" Enrico began to do the math in his head.
"A little over $4000 dollars." Wesker said quickly working the numbers out in his head. "I won't be partaking in the bonus."
"Why wouldn't you partake? You've worked just as hard as we have." Enrico asked. "You've probably worked harder since you had to keep our budget balanced, gave nearly all of the professional development trainings, organized our charitable events, kept our office the most structured office I've ever worked in, and hammered out the schedules and vacations time for everyone this year. You among any of us deserve a bonus."
Wesker shrugged, what Enrico was saying was true, but Wesker figured that those things were part of his responsibilities as the division leader of .R.S. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the tasks Enrico mentioned. Besides, he was already getting a far larger bonus from Spencer for all his work this year and that amount was ten times greater than their surplus, so what meager bonus he squeezed out of the surplus wouldn't really make a difference to him one way or another.
"Oh speaking of the schedules," Enrico said changing subjects. "Have you come up with the schedule for Christmas and who will be working?"
"Yes." Wesker said relaxing his austere tone just a bit. "I was too busy handling the budget to post it today, but I'll post up the schedule when I come in tomorrow."
"Skeleton crew right?" Enrico asked.
"Yes." Wesker answered. "Three from the Bravo team and three from the Alpha team, everyone else will be on call and our office is closed from the 26th until the 30th, but we will be on stand-by if there is a situation."
"Who's on?" Enrico asked.
"Myself, Chris, Joseph, Forest, Richard, and Dewey." Captain Wesker said.
"That's a good group." Enrico said. "Are you sure you want to work the holiday Wesker? I could come in and relieve you after I'm done seeing my kids."
"Thank you for the offer." Wesker said kindly. "But I will be ok. Besides, the shift is scaled down too, we won't be doing a 24 hour schedule that day. Just a modified 15 hour shift."
"What's the schedule?" Enrico asked.
"9 AM to 2 AM." Wesker answered.
"Are you sure Wesker?" Enrico asked again, concerned that Wesker may be overworking himself. "It's no big deal."
"I'll be fine Enrico." Wesker answered. "Thank you for the offer."
"Well, if you're sure?" Enrico said begrudgingly conceding.
"Quite." Wesker closed the subject matter and changing it back to the budget. "So you are fine with the $45,000 being split among the two teams?"
"Yeah, I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised with getting an end of the year bonus." Enrico said happily. "Are you sure this isn't going to cause an issue for reporting?"
"Because our budget comes from private funds and not from state, local, or federal funds," Captain Wesker began. "We pretty much have free reign on how we use our allotment. As a matter of fact, our budget doesn't go through Chief Irons for approval, it is submitted to an independent financial firm for auditing and approval. Thus far I haven't had a budget submission rejected and as long as we don't exceed our expenses without just cause, there will be no problems."
"It's probably for the best that we don't have to go through the chief." Enrico practically whispered. "The cost of some of the equipment would send him through the roof."
"Not to mention our last in-service." Captain Wesker added. "That last in-service cost $65,000 dollars, I don't see any scenario where he would have ever signed off on something like that."
"It was good of the Coast Guard to let us use their facilities and equipment." Enrico said. "That water rescue training was invaluable."
-End-
