wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Details of budget-balancing plan disclosed

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Note #7643 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Details of budget-balancing plan disclosed
03163
March 28, 2003

Details of budget-balancing plan disclosed

Calls for $1.47 million in program cuts, use of $1.67 million of reserves

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly
Council (GAC), has announced details of the plan to balance the General
Assembly mission budget for 2004.
	
The full council will vote on the budget blueprint next weekend.
	
The revised budget, of $126,938,897, was met by cutting expenses by $1.47
million and by using reserve funds totaling $1.67 million. 
	
A $900,000 bequest will be used to cover administrative costs for the Mission
Initiative - a $40 million campaign to raise funds for overseas mission
personnel and church development in the United States, primarily in
racial-ethnic and immigrant communities. The remaining $470,000 in reserves
will come from the Presbyterian Mission Program Fund, the denomination's cash
reserve account.

Nineteen staff positions in Louisville are being proposed for elimination; 10
are now filled, and nine are vacant.
	
In an executive summary, Detterick said the budget cuts were "guided" by a
"work grid" based on the four priorities established by the 1993 General
Assembly: evangelism, social justice, partnership and spiritual formation.
	
Of the $1.47 million in cuts, $380,000 came from the Congregational
Ministries Division (CMD); $300,000 from the National Ministries Division
(NMD); $189,425 from the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD); and $602,280
from administrative functions in the executive director's office and in
Mission Support Services.
	
The reduction proposals from NMD and WMD included the use of reserve funds to
soften the blows.
	
According to an analysis done by Detterick's office, 32 percent of the cuts
were from reduced services and programs, 42 percent from administrative and
technological efficiencies, 3 percent from reduced grants to other agencies,
and 23 percent from reallocations of expenses from unrestricted to restricted
funds.
	
The largest single saving in CMD resulted from an agreement by the Stony
Point and Ghost Ranch conference centers to pick up $100,000 in insurance
costs that had been met by the division. Elimination of three staff positions
saved more than $140,000.
	
NMD trimmed $550,000 from its budget, but added back $250,000 in designated
funds to shore up evangelism and church-development efforts. The major
savings in NMD came from eliminating the position of associate director for
higher education and reassigning higher-education work to other offices.
	
WMD cut $320,698 from its budget but also used $131,273 in carry-over funds
to restore some of the cuts, which came primarily from shifts from restricted
to unrestricted funds for People in Mutual Mission (PIMM, the
overseas-missionary office). No overseas missionary jobs were eliminated.
	
The largest single reduction in support services came from the decision to
eliminate hard-copy distribution of THE NEWS at the end of 2003. Presbyterian
News Service stories will be available only on the Web or by email beginning
next January (except for a few copies to be printed for people without access
to computers). That move will save more than $127,500.
	
Significant savings will also be realized by the automation of many
accounting, payroll and human-resources functions.

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