"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (2926 notes).
Note 2925 by SUSAN PEEK on April 26, 1996 at 22:37 Eastern (4268 characters).
SEARCH: Apportionments, formula, 0-0-2-2, youth, funding
065 {2929} April 26, 1996
General Conference '96
General Conference approves
$508 million apportionment
DENVER (UMNS) -- The 1996 General Conference here April 26
approved a budget of $508,260,000 to fund the churchwide efforts
of the United Methodist Church for the next four years.
The amount will be apportioned to the denomination's regional
structure and -- through it -- to congregations using a formula
based on number of members and other factors.
The adopted budget reflects increases of 1 percent over the
1996 budget for 1997, then no increase for 1998 and a 2 percent
increase for each of the next two years.
In reaching the final total, the 998 delegates first had
approved a report that kept planned increases in the apportioned
funds to zero for 1997 and 1998 and raised them only 2 percent in
1999 and 2000. This "0-0-2-2" formula had been proposed by the
church's finance agency and the conference's financial
administration legislative committee.
But, during the 10-day deliberations here, delegates approved
four additional programs that had a combined price tag of almost
$4.8 million. That amount was not provided for in the original
budget proposal. Hence, the revision.
In addition, the legislative committee differed from the
General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) on some
allocations within the yearly totals.
Committee members argued the importance of supporting the
denomination's 13 seminaries and 11 historically black colleges.
Subsequently, the committee offered an alternative that increased
those two funds while reducing others.
Faced with a choice, General Conference delegates favored the
legislative committee recommendation by a ratio of 3 to 1. That
plan reduces funding for basic program and episcopal support in
order to increase money for ministerial education and the black
colleges. The total amount moved is slightly more than $1.3
million, spread over four years.
Subsequently, the delegates grappled with their desire to
fund the four new programs and a competing desire to retain the
0-0-2-2 formula.
Amendments from the floor suggested several ways of cutting
the amount needed, especially in regard to the Focus on Young
People, However, others rose in support and that program
ultimately was budgeted at $3 million.
Also included in the add-on portion of the budget was a plan
to provide resources in Asian languages other than Korean, to
study Korean-American ministry needs and to finance a
"Connectional Process Team" as a response to the Connectional
Issues Study and the bishops' study of the global church.
With the new programs, apportionments will increase 1 percent
in 1997. The new formula, as adopted, is 1-0-2-2 percent
increases.
Almost three hours were devoted to discussion of budget in
the plenary session, but as Bishop Edwin C. Boulton, GCFA
president, said, the process began at least two years earlier.
Extensive information was gathered from the church's
agencies, and budgets were stretched and contracted to accommodate
agency proposals for new programs as well as those funded by the
mission initiatives of the 1993-96 quadrennium.
Several representatives of GCFA and the legislative committee
voiced commitment to the 0-0-2-2 formula in response to pleas for
financial relief from congregations and individuals.
In their presentations, the chairpersons reported that most
church agencies already had made plans to reduce the number of
people on their governing boards and initiate other economies as
the church worked to downsize.
During the extended budget discussions that covered 16 GCFA
reports and variations from the legislative committee, several
amendments were offered from the floor. Most of them would have
altered the amount provided for the new programs proposed at
General Conference, but some would have required funding from
other non-apportioned funds or taken from the programs already in
effect.
# # #
-- Joretta Purdue
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