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The thing about making it annual is that we can bundle in
incentives like free attendance at a training course.  But
otherwise it's pretty similar to your system

As regards out of hours usage, our approach is to
ration working hour use of popular instruments so
that all labs get a fair share - the keen ones can
then use more time out of hours (but at the same
charge).  We don't want to push too many people into
feeling obliged to work out of hours since we only
want people who have passed our competency tests
on instruments when there isn't support.

                                          Guy


    Good idea,
> Guy!
>
>    We here at Imperial have just started a year ago with purely hourly
> charges until the fincancial situation has stabilised, but long-term a
> modified annual charging system (alongside hourly charges) seems best:
> Instead of "annual" charges I think of trying a Pre-Pay system: Groups
> buy large chunks of usage hours in advance at discounted rates, hours
> are then taken off their credit.
>    Advantages: reduced paper work with billing, clear hourly records for
> facility management and funding bodies, cheaper rates for users - and
> prepaid money in our account. And it's only one calculation system for
> all charges (hourly & prepaid), so easier to handle.
>
>    And finally a note regarding out-of-hour discounts: One of our PI's
> rightly pointed out that they are unfair because they can put students
> from poorer labs (or tight bosses) under enormous pressure to work
> unsocial hours! That's why we don't have them - give it a thought.
>
>  Greetings,
>
>  Martin
>
>   Martin Spitaler
> FILM - Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy
>   - Facility Manager -
>  Sir Alexander Fleming Building, 2nd floor
>  Imperial College London / South Kensington
>  Exhibition Road
>  London SW7 2AZ
>  UK
> Tel. +44-(0)20-759-42023
>  Fax +44-(0)20-759-43015
>  E-mail [log in to unmask]
>  Website: http://imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility
>
>  Date:         Thu, 31 May 2007 18:42:30 +1000
>  Reply-To:     Confocal Microscopy List
>  Sender:       Confocal Microscopy List
>  From:         Guy Cox
>  Subject:      Re: core facility user charges
>  In-Reply-To:
>  Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
>  Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Here in Australia
> granting agencies absolutely will not pay annual 'subscriptions' to core
> facilities - they insist on paying only for the hours used. Nevertheless
> most if not all of our major users are on an annual subscription basis -
> which may seem strange. The point is we offer different annual rates with
> greater discounts per hour according to the amount of use (committed).
> Since all grant projects will have budgeted a number of hours of
> microscope time it is easy for them to pick the appropriate subscription
> level. It all appears in the accounts as payment for hours of microscope
> time and the granting bodies are happy because they can see that the user
> has obtained the most economical rate. Guy
>


-- 
Associate Professor Guy Cox
Electron Microscope Unit,
University of Sydney,
NSW 2006, Australia

Phone:+61 2 9351 3176    Fax:+61 2 9351 7682
http://www.guycox.net