The Story of St. Paul’s: A Narrative Budget for 2005

As you can see from what follows, St. Paul's did enjoy a large budget surplus for 2004.  We need to keep in mind, though, that this surplus arises from Donna's decision to go on quarter-time for almost the entire year.  The picture for 2005 is not as rosy.  Assuming we have a new priest on board July 1, at full pay and benefits, our surplus swings to a deficit.

This deficit will still be dwarfed by the 2004 surplus, but we should take no comfort in that.  Without an increase in revenues and/or reduction in expense, this anticipated deficit will grow.  Death, relocation and other factors have had an unusually large impact lately on the number of pledges we have generated.

So, our challenge is clear.  We need to grow in numbers to compemsate for those faithful members we have lost.  We need to continue to control our expenses. And we need to adopt new initiatives to help this happen.  The Finance Committee and the Vestry have made this a priority.  We have always met such challenges in the past, and we look flroward to working with our new priest to meet this one.

WELCOMING CHURCH

The most important ingredient in a welcoming church is the welcoming spirit of its people, and this has always been one of St. Paul's greatest strengths. But the physical plant is not far behind in importance, and maintenance and improvements to our church property have gotten intense emphasis from the Vestry. We have nearly completed our plan. This year we installed new church doors, put a new sign out front, and landscaped the entire front with native plants. New stone steps lead from new parking slots on Eton Rd. to the church, and our handicapped ramp on that side has been rebuilt. The church has been scraped and repainted professionally, a job that should keep it looking good for quite a few years. The wilderness below the back parking lot has been hacked away and our memorial garden is taking shape. One unseen but crucial addition: a new sump pump.

We have treated such major ventures as capital improvements paid for not out of the budget, which is for routine maintenance, but out of reserve funds. Some of those reserves are already designated just for such a purpose. Still, the fact remains that every dollar we pull out of reserves now is one we cannot use for similar purposes in the future.

The totals for a welcoming church: (2004 actual budget v. 2005 budget):

                                                                                            2004           2005

                        Hospitality                                                     $ 407         $ 800
                        Church Maintenance & Supplies                     2827           3200
                        Communications                                              1523           3700
                        Sexton & Garden Cleanup                               2968           2912
                        Property & Liability Insurance                          4771           4900  

                            TOTAL, WELCOMING CHURCH           $12,496     $15,512

THE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Learning and reflection both nourish the soul, as does worship. The cost of books and materials for study are listed as Christian Education Materials (these expenses are offset by revenues on their resale, which are listed under Other Income). One bright spot in 2004 has been the continuing development of our music program under Rachel Carpentier. We continue our level of seminary support because such support insures a good supply of trained clergy, for the benefit of the whole church.

Finally, we expand the line for supply clergy to reflect an increase in the amount suggested by the diocese as compensation, and because our 2004 allocation was too little to begin with.  More supply clergy will be needed in 2005 until a new rector is in place.

The totals:
                                                                                                 
                                                                                               2004            2005

                    Music                                                                 $5950          $6000
                    Christian Education Materials                                   0                 200
                    Seminary Support                                                1000             1000                             
                    Altar Guild                                                           2056            2000
                    Labyrinth                                                                    0              300
                    Supply Clergy                                                       2685            3500


                        TOTAL, LIFE OF THE SPIRIT                       $11,691       $13,000                              



REACHING OUT

As we’ve noted before, the line items in this part of the budget don’t begin to cover what we do. Our ECW has raised thousands over the past several years for worthy causes, and has become our principal avenue of cash outreach. Time and again our congregation has responded generously to urgent needs. We have been the guiding spirit and principal benefactor of Cambria Cares, and we alone provide roughly one-third of the food and the labor that goes into Cambria’s community effort to feed the needy. Our own St. Paul's Outreach Fund made its second disbursement to charity of income it earned on its investments. Last year we added a budget line for the outreach fund so that St. Paul's as an institution could contribute, and not just generous individuals. We continue that for 2005.


The budget items for outreach:        

                                                                            2004             2005

Fair Share                                                        $19,512         $19,188
Outreach Endowment Fund                                1,000             1,000      

TOTAL, REACHING OUT                           $20,512          $20,188



THE SERVICE OF THE PEOPLE

So much of what we do as a church and as church people runs through the office of the rector. At St. Paul's we have been committed to paying our priest the salary suggested by the Diocese, and this budget continues that practice.

Look at the line for rector salary and benefits. The 2004 figure reflects the fact that we have only been paying Donna quarter-time since February, at her request, because she must spend a great deal of her time functioning as president of the Standing Committee, which has been running the diocese in the absence of a bishop. In 2005 we are assuming, for purposes of illustration, that a new rector will be in place by July 2005, at full salary and benefits (we should note, too, that Donna did not need medical coverage paid by St. Paul's and it is likely that any new priest will).
 
The totals:

                                                                                                    2004            2005

                        Rector Salary & Benefits                                 $21547        $37,360 (1/2 year)
                        Rector Travel & Professional Expense                      0            1300
                        Ministry Expense                                                   180                  0
                        Deacon Travel & Phone Expense                          300              300
                        Parish Secretary (18 hrs/wk)                                9885         12,150     
                        FICA, Medicare, Workers’ Comp.                       1428           1700
                        

                            TOTAL, SERVICE OF THE PEOPLE           $33,340       $52,810


MISCELLANY

Besides the usual routine overhead expenses, this category for 2005 includes a budget line for search expenses. It is a guesstimate; we can't tell how much we'll need to spend on visiting other churches; on paying for top candidates to come here to visit us; and on other search-connected items. We originally allotted $4000 and put it all in 2004, but it now appears almost all our expenses will lie in the future, so we are carrying this forward into 2005 instead.

The totals:

                                                                                                
                                                                           2004              2005

All Utilities                                                           $5145          $5820
All Office Expenses                                               5180             5700
Taxes, Fees, Other Misc.                                      1042                500
Search Expenses                                                         0              4000


     TOTAL, MISCELLANY                                $11,367      $16,020


Which, finally, leaves us with:

       TOTAL EXPENSE BUDGET:                    $89,406      $117,530



This is what we need. Now, where do we get it from?


OUR INCOME

Part of our non-pledge income can only be estimated on the basis of past giving--plate giving is gauged this way--and part is just sheer guesstimate. We usually can count on getting special one-time gifts, for example, but we can never predict the number or amount of such gifts. All we can say at this point is that we expect total non-pledge giving in 2005 to be roughly the same as in 2004, which is tracking our previous budget estimates.   (Definitions: Investment Income is interest and dividends on reserve funds we have invested. Facilities Use is income mainly from Senior Nutrition’s use of the Parish Hall. Other Income includes special one-time gifts; Altar Guild revenues received for flowers; and money received from the sale of books and materials for Christian Education programs.)

The totals for non-pledge income:
                                                                           2004             2005
                                                                            Actual        Budget

Plate                                                                   $3797           $4000
Investment Income                                              1292             1300
Facilities Use                                                       4192             4300
Other non-pledge income                                    2281             2250

Total, non-pledge income                                $11,562         $11,850

Now add in Pledge Income:                         $106,100          $96,900

TOTAL INCOME BUDGET                      $117,662       $108,750

Reconciliation:

Total Income                                                  $117,662       $108,750
Total Expense                                                    89,406         117,530

Surplus (+) or Deficit (-)                               +$28,256          -$ 8780



CHURCH RESERVE (ASSETS)

We expect that St. Paul’s will have total liquid assets of about $160,000 in cash and securities at the end of 2004.

Some of these assets are tightly restricted: they can be used only for a very specific purpose.  Others are restricted, but only broadly; for example, we have funds dedicated to major repairs and improvements to the church, but they can be used for anything that might fall in this very general category.  Finally, we have unrestricted funds that we can use for any purpose.  

A breakdown of these asset categories:

UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:

These will amount to about $90,000.  They include the church general fund, pledges paid in advance, and reserve funds on hand.

PARTIALLY RESTRICTED FUNDS;

These will amount to roughly $27,000.  All these funds are assigned to the general area of major repairs and improvements to the physical plant.

HIGHLY RESTRICTED FUNDS:

The total here should be about $43,000. About three-quarters of that is the principal of the St. Paul’s Outreach Endowment Fund, which is administered as a separate church entity by the Outreach Committee;  dividend and interest income from this fund is given away annually.  Though responsible to the Vestry, as all other church entities are, this committee is empowered to make its own investment decisions and choose the recipients of its outreach.  Most of the remaining amount in the highly restricted category is earmarked for the music program and for construction of a permanent labyrinth.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

A six-member Finance Committee oversees the finances of the church.  It is empowered by the Vestry to invest church assets under guidelines established in its charter; investment in securities whose value may vary (stocks, bonds, etc.) is limited to one-third of assets, and that portion carries further restrictions on the categories of securities that may be purchased.  (For example, St. Paul’s does not invest in individual stocks or bonds; so-called sector funds; or any highly speculative mutual funds.).  The Finance Committee also prepares draft budgets for presentation to the Vestry; provides for audit services; and offers recommendations concerning Church finances.  The committee members, including the Treasurer, are not professionals but have had experience in business management, investment, or both.