[ARIN-consult] Consultation on Approaches for Adjusting the ARIN Registration Services Plan Fee Schedule

[Andrew Dul]

> On Apr 4, 2024, at 16:35, John Curran <jcurran at arin.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Apr 4, 2024, at 5:25 PM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>> 
>> On Wed, Apr 3, 2024 at 10:53 AM John Curran <jcurran at arin.net> wrote:
>>>>> On Apr 3, 2024, at 1:20 PM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>>>>> That's great if inflation stays far enough below 5% to allow for the
>>>>> cost of new services, but what happens when it doesn't? Break the
>>>>> implicit promise of stability in the fees?
>>> 
>>> So it is not the “cost of new services” that is the concern, it’s rather the routine
>>> increase in ARIN’s own operations costs that we have to deal with…
>> 
>> Hi John,
>> 
>> I believe that's called "inflation." Things cost more this year than
>> they did last year. Inflation isn't static. Some years it's more, some
>> years it's less. It was well above 5% in 2021 and 2022, but well below
>> for every other year ARIN has existed.
>> 
>> If the objective is for ARIN prices to track with inflation (i.e. for
>> them to stay the same in "constant dollars"), shouldn't you do just
>> that rather than pick a number out of a hat?
> 
> That is the intent, with the ARIN Board of Trustees approving an appropriate value
> each year.  One would hope that such a number isn’t “picked out of a hat” but rather
> informed by the inflation rate (e.g. trailing 12-month CPI) and our forecasted costs.
> 

While this consultation is specifically for fee increases, we also in some ways should consider how the services Arin should or shouldn’t provide should factor into this discussion. Specifically are there services that Arin today is providing that perhaps it shouldn’t in the future or areas of expenses that should be cut or trimmed. 

Arin as an organization has grown significantly over the past two plus decades and while most of that is desired and maybe even required to meet Arin’s mission. I believe there are probably some areas where Arin could be more efficient with its spending and also some areas that perhaps could be cut. 

To the specific question at hand. I’m not specifically opposed to a yearly standard increase but it does in someways remove an incentive to try and meet Arin’s mission within the funds provided by the membership under a not constantly growing revenue stream. 

I think the board should enforce some disciple on itself to not just increase fees because that is easier than trimming some expenses. 

For example, the board might ask the staff each year to provide an expense budget that provides for zero annual fee increase in addition to a budget that has a “cpi” increase.

Andrew