In September, Larson Inc. sold 40,000 units of its only product for $240,000, and incurred a total cost of $225,000, of which $25,000 was fixed costs. The flexible budget for September showed total sales of $300,000. Among variances of the period were: total variable cost flexible-budget variance, $8,000U; total flexible-budget variance, $63,000U; and, sales volume variance, in terms of contribution margin, $27,000U.

The budgeted fixed cost for September, to the nearest dollar, was:

a: $30,000

b: $45,000

c: $71,000

d: $78,000

e: $93,000