Note #9107 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06066 Feb. 7, 2006
GA to be asked to raise per-capita by 15 cents
98 percent of Presbyterians are paying the full assessment, clerk says
by Jerry L. Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - This year's 217th General Assembly will be asked to increase the 2007 per-capita apportionment by 15 cents, to $5.72 per member, but no further increase is recommended for 2008.
The every-other-year increase follows a pattern established two years ago when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) moved to biennial Assemblies. The General Assembly per-capita increased by 6 cents in 2005, but stayed the same in 2006.
Per-capita apportionments cover the administrative expenses of the General Assembly, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and most of the General Assembly Council (GAC). The General Assembly mission budget supports the PC(USA)'s national and international program expenses.
The recommendation that the levy be raised by 15 cents was approved unanimously yesterday (Feb. 7) during a joint meeting of the executive committee of the GAC and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA).
The same committees approved per-capita budgets of $12,473,683 for 2007, and $14,954,257 for 2008 (a General Assembly year).
The 2007 budget is $401,000 less than the budget for 2005 (also a non-Assembly year); the 2008 budget is down by $211,000 from 2006.
The budgets are smaller because of projections that membership in the denomination will decline by 66,000 in 2007 and by 85,000 in 2008.
Earlier, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly, praised Presbyterians for their faithful payment of the per-capita despite efforts by some in the PC(USA) to persuade churches to withhold it to protest denominational actions and policies. Kirkpatrick told COGA during the meeting that 98 percent of per-capita apportionments are being paid, and that 80 percent of presbyteries have paid it in full.
For 2004, about $270,000 of per-capita was written off as uncollectible, slightly more than the $216,000 written off for 2003. Kirkpatrick noted that unpaid per-capita "is mainly concentrated in the synods of the Trinity and South-Atlantic.
"Many of our presbyteries are in severe financial stress, and some of their congregations are talking of leaving the denomination, which will create further stress," he said, "which makes the faithfulness of our presbyteries all the more remarkable."
The 10 presbyteries with the highest percentages of unpaid per-capita in 2004 (as of Dec. 31, 2005) were: Dakota, Atlantic Korean, San Juan, Shenango, Foothills, Lackawanna, Central Florida, Western New York, East Tennessee and Peace River.
In dollars, the top five in unpaid 2004 per capita were Central Florida, Shenango, Foothills, Peace River and Western New York. Those presbyteries accounted for nearly half of the deficit for 2004.
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