SUMMARY

The proposed budget was approved by the Finance Committee and was presented in summary form to the Diaconate at their November meeting and they voted in favor of the proposal at their December meeting. The budget will be presented at the church conference on Sunday December 12th for approval by the congregation.

Overall spending to meet ministry objectives is projected to increase during 2022.  To meet the spending need, projected income for tithes/offerings and interest income (budget receipts) will need to increase to $1,808,139 from the 2021 modified budget of $1,716,417.  (2020 budget receipts were $1,694,721, and the current rate of budget receipts is trending at around $1,605,000 as of November 2021.)

In order to meet the needs of the church next year in light of the downward trend in tithes and offerings, the finance committee is committed to using the resources at its disposal including:

  • Expense management (Regularly monitoring expenses to determine whether reductions are appropriate throughout the year.)
  • Strategic use of resources (Examining facility use opportunities and opportunities to spend unrestricted reserve funds or Endowment Funds where appropriate.)
  • Increased stewardship activity

Ministry Program Income is projected to be down mostly due to lower parking and facility use income.

Most of the budget line items remain relatively unchanged.  The two main drivers of the proposed increase are as follows:

Property Budget

  • Utilities, routine facility maintenance and repairs, and the reduction in facility use income make up the difference between 2020 and 2021 resulting in an increase of expense of over $20,000 and a reduction in income of almost $7,000.

Salaries/Benefits/Payroll Taxes

  • Increases in this section result from increasing wages for cost-of-living, year over year increases for the budgeted amount for the missions pastor and audio-visual support, and an increase in group health premiums.  The total proposed increase over 2021 is approximately $63,000.  Of note, the projected compensation expense for 2022 is essentially the same in total as it was for 2019.

Please feel free to contact Jimmy Kesler, Finance Committee chair, or anyone on the finance committee, Alan Sherouse, Senior Pastor, Scott North, Church Administrator, Andrew Donovan, Personnel Committee chair, for any  questions or clarifications.