Episcopal Press and News
Three-year revenue projections decreased by $9 million
Episcopal News Service. June 24, 2009 [062409-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Income during the 2010-2012 triennium could be $9 million less than forecast last January, when a draft churchwide budget was approved, according to the chair of the Episcopal Church's budgetary committee.
Pan Adams-McCaslin, chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F), said in a June 24 interview that diocesan commitments during the next three years could be an estimated $7.7 million less and interest on the church's endowment funds is projected to be $1.3 million less.
The diocesan figure is an estimate based on an on-going survey of bishops and diocesan financial officers, she said. They have been asked how realistic it is to assume that they could fulfill the Executive Council's predicted one percent increase in diocesan income in 2010 and two percent increases in both 2011 and 2012.
Those who has already responded have been "very candid" in their replies, Adams-McCaslin said, adding that she appreciated the candor.
New revenue projections will be released when PB&F meets July 6 in Anaheim, California, two days ahead of the start of the 76th General Convention, Adams-McCaslin said.
In the draft budget that Executive Council passed in January, total revenue was projected to be $161,791,777. Of that total, diocesan commitments were projected to account for $95,924,140 and endowment income was projected to be $28,928,713.
On the endowment side, the draft budget projected an annual eight percent growth in endowment funds. Income available for the triennial budget was set at 5.5 percent of a five-year rolling average of the funds' value.
PB&F's concern about reduced revenue projections is coupled with the knowledge that some of the pre-filed General Convention resolutions call for what Adams-McCaslin characterized as "several million dollars" in proposed new programs and initiatives.
In addition, Adams-McCaslin pointed out, there are certain expenses (known as the corporate and canonical side of the budget) that have to be funded, such as the offices of the Presiding Bishop and House of Deputies president and the General Convention office, which aids the church's committees, commissions, agencies and boards in carrying out the convention's mandates during the triennium.
Then there are the parts of the budget proposed by the various ministries that operate out of the church center and its regional offices across the U.S. Those requests, Adams-McCaslin said, are based on "what people believe they need to do the work they want to do."
However, she said, "sometimes it's not possible to fund all the 'wants.'"
"The tension that PB&F faces is, of the gifts that we have to share, how do we make prayerful decisions on funding the 'have-tos' and the 'wants,'" she said.
"We are not going into convention in fear," Adams-McCaslin said of her committee.
"We are going in as educated as possible about the draft budget that was approved by Executive Council, as educated as possible about the proposed resolutions with funding implications -- both revenue-specific and those with funding implied -- in order that PB&F can listen to the convention and the Holy Spirit so that the mission of the church is fulfilled and not political agendas."
Kurt Barnes, Episcopal Church treasurer, told ENS that "church center staff have not formally been asked to submit adjusted budget requests."
He noted that PB&F previously asked church center department heads how they would adjust their activities if the available funds were 50 percent less than in the draft budget.
During that exercise, Adams-McCaslin said, "some people came back with some really creative ways" of how they would do their work.
The 50-percent exercise took place when PB&F met in March to learn about the draft budget and meet with church center department heads to learn about their work and their budget requests.
At convention PB&F will hold three open hearings: one on budget priorities on July 7 and hearings on spending and revenue decisions on July 9 and 10.
Outside of those hearings, the committee meets in open sessions daily at convention to craft a proposed budget, which must be approved by both houses. Adams-McCaslin said that PB&F will spend time early on in its Anaheim meetings discussing how it will do its work and make its decisions, and how it will operate in the economic realities facing the church.
"We're trying to say, what programs can we fund at a churchwide level that will serve the entire church, while recognizing what we know are many worthwhile programs that may be better done locally," she said.
The committee is scheduled to present its proposed budget on July 15 to a joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies in the deputies' hall. A vote is expected July 16, the day before the end of convention.