wfn.org | Delegates budget $6.2 million for next General Conference

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CLEVELAND (UMNS) -  Cost of the next General Conference of the United
Methodist Church, scheduled for Pittsburgh in 2004, is projected to exceed
$5 million.

On May 12, closing day of the 2000 General Conference in Cleveland,
delegates approved a General Administration Fund budget of $6,214,000 for
the Pittsburgh assembly.  In recent years, members from across the
denomination have raised  86 percent of that fund.

Expenditures for the 2000 General Conference, May 2-12, are expected to be
close to $4 million, according to Sandra Kelley Lackore, top staff executive
of the church's General Council on Finance and Administration. 

The General Conference budget includes the travel, housing and food for
nearly 1,000 delegates and the facilities and services in which the meeting
is held. Some of the increased costs for the 2004 conference are due to the
expense of translating materials and providing more translators for
delegates from outside the United States. An inadequate number of
translators was a sore point for many at the Cleveland event.

While concerned about budget issues, the delegates clearly put money where
their priorities are, Lackore said. "They want to assure an inclusive
General Conference for all delegates," she observed.

Attending the Cleveland conference were 992 delegates - 830 from the United
States, 152 from the Central Conferences outside the United States, and 10
from concordat churches - non-United Methodist churches that have a working
relationship with the denomination.
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-- Tom McAnally

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United Methodist News Service
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