wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Per capita pay-up again exceeds 98 percent

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8524 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

October 11, 2004

Per capita pay-up again exceeds 98 percent

COGA writes off $243,000 as 'uncollectible' for 2003

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - The 173 presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) paid
more than 98 percent of their per capita apportionments in 2003, continuing a
seven-year trend of bucking repeated calls by conservative groups to withhold
this per-member contribution as a means of protest.

	According to figures presented to the Committee on the Office of the
General Assembly (COGA) at its Oct. 6-8 meeting here, the presbyteries paid
$13,319,983 out of total apportionments of $13,562,981. COGA voted to close
its 2003 books Dec. 31 by writing off approximately $243,000 as
"uncollectible."

	"It will be lower than that," said Office of the General Assembly
(OGA) budget officer Christopher Nicholas. "More will continue to come in
through the end of the year."

	For the last several years COGA has budgeted $350,000 for
uncollectible per capita. Protest-driven withholding reached its peak in
1995, when uncollectible per capita reached $349,605.

	The per capita budget funds the following: meetings of the General
Assembly and General Assembly Council (GAC), the administrative expenses of
the OGA (including the moderator and stated clerk) and the GAC, permanent and
special committees of the General Assembly and advisory committees of the
GAC, general (not program) grants to ecumenical partners and such agencies as
the Presbyterian Historical Society, and the General Assembly Permanent
Judicial Commission.

	One hundred thirty-seven presbyteries paid their full per capita
apportionments last year. Of the 36 who did not, nearly a third are in the
Synod of the Trinity. Ten of the 16 presbyteries in the synod -
Beaver-Butler, Carlisle, Donegal, Lackawanna, Lake Erie, Philadelphia,
Redstone, Shenango, Upper Ohio Valley and Washington - did not pay their full
apportionment.

	Eight presbyteries in the Synod of South Atlantic, five presbyteries
each in the synods of the Northeast and Living Waters, and two presbyteries
in the Synod of Mid-Atlantic did not pay their full apportionment. And six
synods - Lakes and Prairies, Lincoln Trails, Covenant, Puerto Rico, Southern
California and Hawaii, and the Sun - each had one presbytery in arrears.

	Five synods - Alaska-Northwest, Mid-America, Pacific, Rocky
Mountains, Southwest - had complete pay-up by their presbyteries.

	The General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission has ruled that
per capita contributions are voluntary but has cautioned Presbyterians that
payment of per capita, as a shared expense of the church, is a moral
obligation.

	Constitutionally presbyteries are responsible for the collection and
remitting of per capita funds. Twenty-seven of the 36 presbyteries that did
not pay their full apportionment remit only what they receive from their
churches.

	Two presbyteries - Central Florida and Foothills - reported that
their payments were short due to withholding by their largest congregations.
According to the Minutes of the General Assembly the 5,600-member First
Presbyterian Church of Orlando paid no per capita in 2003. First Presbyterian
Church of Greenville, SC  - with 4,500 members - paid its presbytery and
synod per capita apportionments but not its General Assembly share.

	In most cases the uncollectible per capita was a small amount. Only
two presbyteries - again Central Florida and Foothills - were in arrears by
more than $25,000. Twenty-one of the 36 presbyteries that came up short were
less than $5,000 in arrears.

	General Assembly per capita apportionments and pay-up, 1999-2003

Year	Apportionment		Paid		Percentage	       
Uncollectible

1999	$12,448,793		$12,262,413	98.5		       
$186,380

2000	$12,806,036		$12,642,780	98.7		       
$163,256

2001	$12,746,684		$12,563,314	98.6		       
$183,370

2002	$13,240,686		$13,049,598	98.6		       
$191,088

2003	  $13,562,981		$13,319,983*	98.2*		       
$242,998*

* estimated

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