wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 3201

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3237 notes).

Note 3235 by UMNS on Oct. 16, 1996 at 15:53 Eastern (7446 characters).

CONTACTProduced by United Methodist News Service, official news
agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville,
Tenn., New York, and Washington.

: Thomas S. McAnally                          521(10-21-71B){3235}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Oct. 15, 1996

General Conference expenses
$500,000 over budget

     CLEVELAND (UMNS) -- Expenses of the 1996 United Methodist
General Conference in Denver April 16-26 are expected to be more
than $500,000 over what was budgeted, according to a report made
here to the group planning the next legislative assembly in the
year 2000.
     Gary Bowen, Business Manager of the General Conference, told
the 14-member Commission on the General Conference that total
expenses are expected to be about $3.6 million while the amount
budgeted was $3.1 million. 
     Bowen was named business manager late in July, succeeding
Roger Kruse who left his position shortly after the Denver
Conference. 
     Cost of the General Conference has more than doubled since
1980, according to a report distributed here.  However, the same
$3.1 million was voted by previous General Conferences for each of
the past two conferences.
     Sandra Kelley Lackore, who was elected chief staff executive
of General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) Dec. 1,
1995, told United Methodist News Service that some expenses over
income for the 1996 conference will not be a surprise for GCFA
governing members.  She had been a member of that group before
being elected general secretary and treasurer.  
     "Responding to the church's call for cost containment, the
1996 budgeted amount was established at the same level as 1992,"
she explained.  "The total funds available for each General
Conference are raised through four years of line items in the
General Administration Fund.  We expected to use reserves that had
been accumulated for several quadrennia to cover additional costs
at the General Conference in Denver."
     The greatest single reason for the overexpenditures at the
1996 conference was expenses of the 996 delegates, according to
Bowen and Lackore.  The church pays travel expenses and a per diem
for meals and lodging for all delegates.  Per diem allowance for
1996 was $88.  About $1.6 million was budgeted for delegate
expenses but actual expenditures are about $2 million.
     The number of delegates is based on a formula related to the
number of members in each annual (regional) conference.  The
maximum number of delegates to a conference is 1,000.  Membership
has been growing rapidly in Africa and the Philippines thus the
percentage of delegates outside the United States has increased. 
     Getting delegates out of countries where there is civil
strife was "incredibly difficult," Lackore said. Poor
communications in some countries also created difficulties.  It
was reported that in the Philippines it was necessary to hire a
runner to go back into the mountains and find out the names of
delegates.
     The commission, chaired by Mollie M. Stewart of Valhermosa
Springs, Ala., is projecting a reduced budget of $2.7 million for
the General Conference in 2000.  To stay within that budget will
require early and creative planning, Bowen told the commission. He
compared the four-year process to canoeing: "If you wait until you
reach the narrows then it's too late to change your course.  We
must be prepared and plan, plan, plan."
     Lackore expressed excitement at having Bowen, a certified
public accountant, as business manager for the conference. 
Although the commission is accountable directly to the General
Conference, Lackore said the GCFA is monitoring its finances with
greater vigilance.  "The GCFA has not heretofore passed on the
budget of the commission," she said, "but that has changed.  Like
every other budget in the church now, we will review the
commission's budget and require check points along the way."
     "It is not the job of GCFA to determine the program of the
General Conference," she emphasized,  "but it is our job to
monitor budgets."
     Budgeted needs from the General Administrative Fund do not
include significant expenses covered by local committees or by
other agencies such as United Methodist Communications.  The local
committee in Denver reported it spent $20,000 for coffee.
     The local committee in Cleveland anticipates raising from
$60,000 to $65,000.  Chairing the committee is a member of the
commission: the Rev. Kenneth W. Chalker, pastor of First United
Methodist Church in Cleveland.
     Reflecting on possible ways to cut expenses, Lackore said she
doesn't think the church wants to deny full participation of
delegates outside the United States even though meeting their
needs is expensive. "I think there is strong affirmation for a
global perspective but with that comes greater costs."
     While volunteers are helpful in keeping costs down, she said
demographics have changed and few people other than retirees have
time to give.  The local committee in Cleveland is expecting to
recruit 2,000 volunteers.
     Asked if there were other ways that costs might be contained,
Lackore said it would be cheaper to have the conference in the
same location where "we would have some history and wouldn't have
to reinvent the wheel."  She also said better prices may be
obtained by comparing costs among cities nationally.
     Traditionally, the location of the conference moves among the
church's five geographic jurisdictions.  If that tradition is
followed, the 2004 conference will be held in the Northeast. 
Commission members learned that the only invitation to date has
come from United Methodists in the Philadelphia area.
     Few cities have hotel and meeting facilities that can
accommodate a 10-day meeting the size and nature of the General
Conference.
     Commission members toured the Cleveland Convention Center,
site of the 2000 conference.  Chairman of the commission's program
committee is the Rev. James M. Perry, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 
Chairman of the facilities committee is the Rev.. Harry Shaner,
Walnut Creek, Calif.
     In other business, the commission:
     * asked the local committee to propose a logo for the
conference;
     * asked the program committee to bring a nominee for music
director to the commission's next meeting;
     * agreed to explore the possibility of a social service
project such as Habitat for Humanity for observers and spouses of
delegates during the 10-day meeting;
     * set Oct. 10-12, 1997 in the Chicago area for its next
meeting.
                              #  #  #

NOTE TO EDITORS:  Members of the commission and their annual
conferences are:

Mollie M. Stewart, North Alabama
Harry Shaner, California-Nevada
James M. Perry, Troy
Robert B. Brandt, Northern New Jersey
Rodolfo C.Beltran, Cabanatuan City, Philippines Central Conference
Kenneth W. Chalker, Cleveland, East Ohio
Carole Cotton-Winn, New Orleans, Louisiana
Nancy K. Foster, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Roberto L. Gomez, San Antonio, Rio Grande
Aninta L. Iceman, Tempe, Desert Southwest
Kimball Salmon, Sacramento, California-Nevada
Phylemon D. Titus, Detroit, Michigan
Charles D. White Jr., Charlotte, Western North Carolina
Aileen L. Williams, Rochester, Minnesota

Ex-officio members are: Carolyn Marshall, secretary of the General
Conference, Veedersburg, Ind.; Sandra Kelley Lackore, Treasurer,
and Gary K. Bowen, Business Manager, both of Evanston, Ill.

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