wfn.org | Council grapples with budget shortfalls

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Note #7037 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

31-January-2002
02048

Council grapples with budget shortfalls

Leaders cut $1.9 from 2002 budget, look for $5.7 million more for 2003

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - General Assembly Council (GAC) senior staff have identified $2.5 million in budget cuts to the unrestricted portion of the General Assembly mission budget that will be necessary to balance the 2002 budget and provide $600,000 is start-up costs for a $40 million fundraising campaign for overseas mission personnel and new church developments.

	Another $5.57 million will have to be trimmed from the unrestricted portion of the 2003 mission budget. Of the $140 million total budget, about $40 million is unrestricted.

	GAC executive director John Detterick told council members - who are here this week for the regular winter meeting of GAC - that the $1.9 million revenue shortfall for 2002 is projected to come from a lower than budgeted contribution from Presbyterian Women, a drop in unrestricted bequests and annuities of $1 million and reduced income from the church's investments due to the weakened economy.

	"But it (the shortfall) was not nearly as bad as we feared," Detterick said, referring to earlier concerns that unrestricted giving from congregations and presbyteries would drop in light of ongoing theological controversies in the denomination. 

	A survey of selected presbyteries conducted in early January indicated that mission giving will decrease only slightly in 2002 and will increase by about $150,000 in 2003.

2002 spending reductions

	About 40 percent of the 2002 cuts will come by eliminating a planned $500,000 contribution to the church's capital reserve fund and halting a planned $500,000 stewardship initiative that was to be conducted jointly between the GAC and the Presbyterian Foundation.

	Cuts by the ministries divisions and other entities include:

* Congregational Ministries ($200,000): elimination of the Office of Men's Ministries, deferral of a number of theology and worship resources, elimination of some cooperative ventures between CMD and the seminaries and the canceling of an extra CMD committee meeting scheduled for November 2002.

* National Ministries ($400,000): leaving four unfilled staff positions vacant, elimination of a number of grants to other organizations and reduced travel and administrative expenses.

* Worldwide Minstries ($400,000): reduction of grants to partner churches around the world; reduction in missionary orientation, re-entry and retreat expenses; reductions in programs such as the Reconciliation and Mission program, the Global Intern program and the Thuma Mina interpretative theater troop.

* Executive Director's Office ($400,000): reductions in travel, PresbyNet training and promotion, cutting back The News to biweekly publication; reducing staff (leaving a vacant position unfilled), travel and equipment in Human Resources; reducing administrative and publications costs in Mission Funding; reduction in maintenance contracts in the Office of Information Services; scaling back work and temporary staff in Research Services; and reducing travel and work in the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.

* Mission Support Services ($125,000): elimination of vacant positions.

2003 budget cuts

	The $5.7 million reduction in the unrestricted portion of the 2003 mission budget is much dicier. The massive downsizing of 1993 - commonly known as "shape and form" - involved $7 million in budget cuts. More than 150 national staff positions were eliminated in that downsizing.

	"Whatever we do now has to involve strategic adjustments," Detterick said. "We can't shave back and shave back across the board. And we will not do what we did earlier (in "shape and form")," he added, "when we cut staff without cutting workload."

	If all line items in the 2002 budget were simply rolled forward to 2003, the budget deficit would be $2.4 million. An additional one-time revenue sources in 2002 that won't be available in 2003 add another $770,000 to the deficit, raising it to $3.17.

	"But we cannot remain static," Detterick insisted. "We have at least three challenges that we have to rise to." Those are $1 million to fund the Mission Initiative fundraising campaign, an additional $500,000 (above the currently budgeted $250,000) for the new Presbyterian curriculum, and $900,000 for cost-of-living and merit salary increases for national staff.

	The GAC ordinarily approves a General Assembly mission budget for the following year at its winter meeting. The needed $5.57 million in cuts have not yet been identified, so the Council will be asked to approve the bottom line numbers and authorize senior staff to bring a detailed proposal for balancing the budget to the April 26-27 meeting of its Executive Committee.

	The Council is scheduled to vote on the authorization the afternoon of Feb. 1 or the morning of Feb. 2. The meeting is slated to adjourn later that afternoon.
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