wfn.org | GAC Executive Committee approves 2003 Mission Budget

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Note #7142 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-April-2002
02159

GAC Executive Committee approves 2003 Mission Budget

$4 million in staff, program cuts included

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - With only minor questions and no debate, the General Assembly Council  (GAC) Executive Committee voted 10-1 to approve a $130 million budget for 2003 that cuts programming and immediately eliminates the jobs of 43 national staff members and, at least temporarily, 34 long-term mission workers.

The Rev. Adelia Kelso of Pearl River, La., the committee's vice chair, voted no, saying that while she considered the recommendations wise, she was holding out hope for economic recovery.

"I think it was a strong vote affirming what needed to be done, but it was given with a sense of pain," said General Assembly Council Executive Director John Detterick. The budget, which must be approved by the General Assembly in June, reflects $4 in program adjustments that were needed to pay for new mission priorities and to accommodate reduced revenue from such sources as investment earnings.

The cuts came after the GAC voted in February for two new mission priorities: $500,000 to create a new denominational curriculum, "We Believe," and $1 million to underwrite the first full year of a $40 million fund-raising drive to help finance new church development, racial-ethnic church growth and more postings for mission personnel.

Another $670,000 was set aside for salary adjustments for GAC staff in 2003. The amount represents a three percent salary pool, which was reduced from an original proposed pool of four percent. The difference was restored to the budget of the GAC's three ministries divisions.

Official notices of termination will be distributed April 29, and downsized staff will be required to vacate their offices by May 3.  Two additional positions will be eliminated by year's end. Twenty-one already vacant positions were also cut.

Detterick told the committee that it isn't yet clear whether the current cuts solve the denomination's financial woes.

While Shared Mission giving remains steady, the director said that there is no way to predict other factors, such as the amount of money the denomination will receive from wills and bequests, or whether there will be changes in the formula used to calculate revenue from restricted accounts held by the Presbyterian Foundation.

He said the next steps are to set clear goals and priorities, to be proactive in securing funding for mission, and to continue focusing on projects that increase efficiency in services and program. He reminded the committee to look at not just "what is not there" in the proposed 2003 budget, but "what will be there."

"This was a long process," Detterick said, introducing the three-hour budget presentation to the committee, a number of whom had been involved in its development. "And what you have before you is as good as we can do.  We tried to do it right.

"We tried to do it justly," he said, describing the work as "anxiety-filled" at times.

After a short executive session where the names of the terminated employees were revealed, that anxiety was verbalized in prayers said just before the vote. 

"The names we've seen represent many years of faithful service to your church.  Reach out to them with a mother's tender care," said council member Emily Wigger of Alton, Ill. Kelso referred to the hard choices and asked whether the church ought to "pull back and re-trench ... (or) do what the world thinks ... Show us what to do."

According to the GAC's Human Resources Office, those whose positions were downsized include two persons with 40-49 years of service, two with 30-39 years, four with 20-29 years, and 12 with 10-19 years.  

Six of the positions were held by individuals who were 65 or over, while two others were between 60 and 64.

Eighteen positions were eliminated in the Congregatonal Ministries Division (CMD), 13 in the National Ministries Division (NMD), 16 in the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD), 13 in Mission Support Services (MSS), and six in the Executive Director's Office (EDO).

Reductions by division totaled $767,000 in CMD, $1,153,708 in NMD, $2,081,682 in WMD, $763,639 in MSS and $568,917 in the EDO.

General Assembly Council Deputy Executive Director Kathy Lueckert told the Executive Committee that 15 percent of the cuts were strategic reductions, while 41 percent were categorized as reductions in work and 44 percent as a reorganization of work and other administrative efficiencies.

Eliminated positions accounted for 47 percent of the reductions, while program and cost reductions accounted for 53 percent. Most of the reductions ($4,244,771) were to the GAC's unrestricted budget, but there were also $1,440,874 in reductions to restricted funds.

WMD Director the Rev. Marian McClure said that while many changes were made "with regret" in WMD, creative solutions to existing problems were also identified.  While grants to partner churches have been reduced, a more centralized system will be implemented to provide grants to church partners with the greatest need. While two of eight area coordinator positions were eliminated, some of the work previously done by area coordinators will now be split in some areas between Louisville staff and regional facilitators, beginning in Central America.

Long-standing styles of work were re-evaluated.

CMD Director the Rev. Don Campbell said that while the Peacemaking Advisory Committee, established in 1980, will be discontinued, the Peacemaking Program will look to the strong networks it has developed for advice.  Other work within Congregational Ministries Publishing will be reduced so that full attention can be devoted to the more immediate and "critical" task of creating the new curriculum.

"This is the most humane system for dealing with budget constraints that I've ever seen," said Kaye Hirt Eggleston of Carmel, Ind., who chairs the MSS Committee. "If you've not worked outside the church, you have no idea what it is like in 'the real world.' ... The outside world (terminates employees) with a lot less notice and with a lot less of a safety net underneath them."

Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service that the church environment is different than the corporate world, noting there is "much greater emphasis here on the impact on people than in the best corporate organizations."

"But the truth of the matter is, the shape of the church's mission changes all the time, decade to decade, century to century," Detterick added. "Sometimes it is driven by financial concerns; sometimes by other needs."

In an interview, GAC Chair the Rev. Jeff Bridgeman of Solvang, Calif., said that committee members had been thoroughly informed throughout the process by staff and that he believes the proposed changes are the "right thing at the right time."  Nonetheless, he added that those who were voting were acutely aware that the positions being cut were held by people they "loved and cared about."

"I don't think anybody likes this part of leadership," he said. 

Following some minor vandalism at the Presbyterian Center before the layoffs were announced, the GAC arranged for a plainclothes officer from the Jefferson County (Kentucky) Police to remain outside the conference room where the meeting was held. No disruptive incidents occurred.
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