Minutes of Special Meeting

Minutes of the Special All Church Meeting Called to Approve the Budget

Sunday, December 7, 2008

This special all-church meeting on Sunday, December 7^th, 2008, was called to order following the regular service by Co-Moderator Carolyn Behr at 11:50 a.m.  There were more than 37 members present, satisfying the quorum requirement of 25.

Carolyn invited all to join in the discussion after presentation of the budget by Treasurer John Craig.

Copies of the proposed budget were circulated.  John and the Budget Task Force have met several times this fall and earlier than usual.  This action was taken as our financial consultant has recommended that a budget be in place for the first of the new year.

John pointed out the new appearance of the budget, now organized by clusters.  It is much like last year’s in amounts and is definitely bare boned.  There is a deficit at this point, more of a revenue problem and less an expense problem.

The financial consultant recommended that the Makepeace monies be included in the budget figures so that everything is accounted for and available for all to see.  The Makepeace amount included in the budget is $80,000. for 2009.

There has been a change in the IRS regulations regarding the Makepeace type of funds and trustees are now required to pay out 5% of the average amount of the trust over one year.  Therefore, this coming payment is based on the year 2007, and amounts to $102,000.  The figure is high for now but another year will be much lower based on the 2008 stock investments.  The Church Council voted to put aside $22,000. of the Makepeace money for next year.  Amounts as shown will be spent by the clusters in the coming year and any not spent will be moved ahead and available to the same cluster for the next year.

Susan Clarke spoke for the Personnel Committee that reviewed the staff  performance evaluations and recommended a 2% salary increase.  They had hoped to increase more but the current financial climate dictates being modest.  Benefits for the pastor are level funded.

Bob Behr reports there are 88 pledge units received representing a 35% increase over last year.  There are 5 new pledge units.  The income goal is $235,000.

Jinx Tong from the Congregational Cluster addressed the line item of youth leader salary.  It has been budgeting for a half year as there will be a search conducted after the first of the year for someone to fill this position in the fall.  $6,000 has been designated from the Makepeace funds for use in developing new programs and reaching out to potential members.

Blair Benjamin of the Community Cluster is excited about the $12,000. in church funding, a slight increase over last year, to share among community efforts.  The existing Makepeace Committee has made recommendations for apportionment of the $34,000 available for 2009.  However, the cluster will take a strong role in guiding use of the Makepeace funds in future years.

Anne Skinner of the Budget Task Force pointed out that the proposed budget and the real budget don’t match at this time but we hope to raise the difference in some way.  The fundraising income line shows two years of tag sale money because it has been determined that tag sale monies should be spent in the same year raised.

A question was raised about this deficit budget and what would happen if the pledges hoped for are not received.  The response is that we can always revisit the budget and try to cut, or decide to do some special fundraising in addition to current plans or dip into our savings.  This is a flexible process.

A motion to pass the budget was made by Anne deGersdorff and seconded by Carolyn Behr.  There was no further discussion.  Bob Hadden called the question.  The budget was passed unanimously.

Thanks were expressed by the co-moderators to the Budget Task Force for a job well done.

The special meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn S. Faulkner, Clerk