
Narrative
The Finance Committee and the Diaconate at their December meetings approved the proposed budget (summary can be found here or below). The budget will be presented at the church conference on Sunday December 11th for approval by the congregation.
Overall spending to meet ministry objectives is projected to decrease during 2023. To meet the spending need, projected income for tithes/offerings and interest income (budget receipts) will decrease from $1,808,139 in the 2022 budget to $1,732,626 in the 2023 budget to align more closely to the 2022 trend in offerings. (As of 11/30/22, 2022 projected budget receipts are estimated at between $1,672,000 – $1,700,000.)
In order to meet all of the expense needs for 2023, strategic use of resources (Examining facility use opportunities and opportunities to spend unrestricted reserve funds or Endowment Funds where appropriate) will include:
- Use of $14,000 in unrestricted memorial contributions (approximately the average over the last three years and the current balance in the fund.)
- Use of $4,600 in previously designated and restricted funds allocated to the Senior Adult ministry, Recreation ministry, and Library.
Ministry Program Income is projected to double mostly due to youth mission and activity receipts being recognized at their pre-pandemic levels. (The youth expense budget will increase significantly, but their receipts also increase so that their actual net expense in 2023 will be less than 2022.)
In order to meet the needs of the church next year and preserve adequate operating cash reserves, the finance committee working with the staff, personnel committee, and missions committee has made the following changes from last year’s budget recommendation:
– Where possible, ministry budgets are reduced by approximately 7%.
– Staff salary increases will be 2% across the board, and group insurance has increased by 6% per covered employee.
– Expenses for the summer youth and children’s interns will be removed from the budget, and expenses for the two apartment buildings owned by the church will be removed from the property budget. Because of the missional and benevolent purposes of each of these expenses, and because these expenses have not always been included in the regular church budget, it is recommended that if needed, the church fund these expenses from the portion of the Missions Endowment not related to the original corpus of the fund for 2023.
Please feel free to contact Tony Petitt, Finance Committee chair, or anyone on the finance committee, Alan Sherouse, Senior Pastor, Scott North, Church Administrator, Scott Culclasure, Personnel Committee chair, or Thom Little, Missions Committee chair for any questions or clarifications.
