Finance Council Meeting Church of the Resurrection June 6 , 2007 The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. In attendance were: Fr. Mark Hobson, Dennis Bodziony, Bill Hawke and Catherine Mazanec Cluster Committee Report Catherine Mazanec is the Finance Council Representative on the Cluster Committee. Our cluster includes Church of the Resurrection, St. Rita’s and Saints Cosmas and Damian (Twinsburg). Orientation meetings have been held with all cluster committees throughout the Diocese, and they have all been given materials to guide their process. The first meeting of each cluster committee must be held by the end of July, and each Church has a Finance Council and Parish Council representative on the committee. Churches with a mandate to identify merger or closure candidates will have a facilitator appointed to their process. Brief updates will be provided to Finance Council as the process unfolds, and any proposals with a financial impact will be discussed by Council.
Funds from the Potential Sale of St. Jude’s Fr. Mark Hobson indicated that the Mr. Maimone, Diocesan CFO, confirmed in a letter that Church of the Resurrection will receive proceeds from the sale of St. Jude’s buildings and land after the Diocese recoups outstanding liabilities, currently estimated at about $800,000. The current asking price for the property is $5 million. St. Jude’s is on 20 acres of land which is considered quite valuable. Dennis Bodziony indicated that Canon Law changed recently and states that money from a parish that is closed or consolidated will follow the parishioners. Given this situation, he recommended we hold off on a debt reduction campaign for the time being.
Financial Progress Report We anticipate ending the year at break even. This is partially the result of greater use of debt reduction envelopes (or other special purpose envelopes, such as Repair and Maintenance). Average offertory collections declined by approximately 3% between FY 2006 and FY 2007. Between November, 2005 and June, 2006 $94,800 was contributed via the debt reduction envelopes. We have an account to deposit funds of parishioners who have requested that none of their contributions go to the Diocese. These funds should be used for repairs and maintenance or to support debt reduction. Christmas and Easter collections were down somewhat compared to last year. The lower Easter collection could be weather related. Dennis Bodziony reported that we will not be transferring any of the Christmas or Easter collection to the debt service reserve fund this year.
Capital Campaign Update There are forty-eight accounts with an outstanding balance. Of these, twenty-three have made no payments on their pledge in the last eleven months. It was noted that some parishioners have been using the debt reduction envelope to make payments on their pledges. These individuals will receive a letter confirming that donations made with this envelope will reduce their outstanding pledge balance.
Debt Service Payments The Debt Service Reserve Fund currently stands at $278,000. A motion was made and passed to continue making additional principal payments of $15,000 a month from this fund. We will review our financial situation again at the next Finance Council meeting to determine whether to continue making additional payments at this level until the balance is the fund is at $200,000.
Maintenance Committee Report Finance Council reviewed a Maintenance Committee report which outlined anticipated expenditures over the next three to five years. These expenditures are currently estimated at approximately $50,000. One of expenditures will be to recoat the church roof. When this is done, the roof will be colored to match the new church roof. Fr. Mark proposed that a decision on painting the exterior of the original building to match the new Church be postponed until the new roof is completed so that the look of the entire building can be considered.
Automatic Bank Transfers Diane Lionti spoke to Huntington Bank staff about automatic transfers from parishioners’ accounts to Resurrection. The bank could install a program for us. The fee would be $40 a month plus $.21 per transaction. The cost and the process to set up this program were deemed to be too high to establish this program at the current time. Alternatively, parishioners can have their bank debit the amount of their contribution and mail it directly to Resurrection. Some parishioners are doing this, and it is working fine with no cost to us.
Staff Compensation Adjustments Staff compensation was reviewed and Finance Council proposed cost of living increases for all staff. Next year’s proposed budget will be adjusted to reflect these increases. An analysis was done in the recent past which confirmed that Resurrection’s staff member compensation was reasonable, relative to their peers in the Diocese.
FY 2008 Operating Budget Dennis Bodziony reviewed next year’s forecast compared with estimated FY 2006 operating expenses. Based on current information, operating expenses are expected to increase by approximately 8% for the next fiscal year. Most expense increases are less than 5%. Two exceptions are the Diocesan assessment for next year which will increase from $96,400 to $117,100, a 21.47% increase and rectory expenses which are estimated to increase from $22,600 to $26,500, a 17.28% increase. The budget will require some additional adjustment to incorporate compensation increases. The increase in expenses also increases our weekly offertory goal from $13,500 to $14,500. This year, the average weekly offertory received was $13,200. The weekly debt service goal was $3,500. The parish community will be informed of the increased offertory goal in a couple of months.
Bulletin Service The parish team has been evaluating a Bulletin service. The company would provide a computer, all paper, etc. and would also give the parish some money back, based on the amount of advertising sold. There was some discussion about Resurrection’s philosophy and whether we should use such a service. Part of the requirement would be for us to give them the names of parishioners who could be contacted for advertising. Fr. Mark was evaluating alternatives to the typical layout of advertisements in Parish Bulletins (e.g., a simple list by type of organization). It was suggested that this issue be addressed by Parish Council.
Pension Plan Fr. Mark Hobson shared with Finance Council the pension parish team members could expect, given our current plan. The current formula is monthly salary X 1% X years of service. For Lisa Frey, this results in a pension at 30% of her current compensation which is extremely low. Bill Hawke has volunteered to call the Diocese to determine what pension options they might provide. We believe they offer a 403(b) plan which permits employee contributions of up to 6% of salary. We could then offer a match to allow additional funds to accumulate for retirement. Bill will report back to Finance Council on the results of his inquiry.
Communication with Parishioners Regular updates will be provided in the Bulletin, about once a month, to provide information on where we stand with our debt, capital campaign and other financial issues including our goals for Fiscal Year 2008. A Bulletin insert that will be included in this weekend’s Bulletin was reviewed by Finance Council. This brief document encourages parishioners to use their debt reduction envelopes to help reduce our debt. That insert noted that we have made $210,000 in additional principal payments on our debt, resulting in a reduction in total interest over the debt term of $410,000. Also, these additional payments have reduced the term of the debt from 20 years to sixteen years and five months. This insert will also encourage parishioners to continue making their weekly offertory gift.
Next Meeting The meeting concluded at 9:30 p.m. Please note that the date for the next meeting has been changed. It has been rescheduled for September 26th. |