Mortgage - (+)$12,000 ($36,000 in 2009) - With the construction of the newer part of our building, remaining indebtedness of the original construction, and a smaller loan for some remedial work that had to be done about 3 years ago, we carry about $2.6 million in debt. The most recent loan was set up to balloon in August of 2008 necessitating refinancing and restructuring the loan at that time, or some favorable time before. At this time our loan payments are about $18,000 per year. If interest rates and amortization is not as favorable with our new loan we could be looking at a $3,000 per month increase for the last for months of 2008, translating to $36,000 for 2009.
Refinancing and a Capital Campaign - The three year commitment from our last capital campaign our church had expires in December. Your finance team has already had a "fishing" conversation with 5 banks to test the market for our loan business. Each of them expressed an interest in our completing a debt reduction, capital campaign. It is my hope that our giving toward the annual budget for 2008 will allow us to cover our mortgage payments. In that way, any funds raised through a debt reduction campaign could be dedicated to the reduction of principal and not be put to interest at all. This means that we will be following our fall campaign for stewardship with a Feb/Mar campaign for debt reduction. We have to realize that we have a young congregation (membership age as well as the age of the church). This doesn't translate into accumulated wealth. We aren't thinking that we will pay off the entire indebtedness with this campaign, but if we can knock off more than a half million of our principal, we should consider that a success.
Apportionments - (+)$18,000 - I have long been a proponent for a restructuring of our church apportionment system so that it is only figured on a church's spending. In the past apportionments have been figured on a very complex formula based upon church membership, average worship attendance, and spending. The change was approved to begin in 2008 and it hits Good Shepherd fairly hard. While this may seem unfair, we have benefited from a system that allowed us to get away paying less than our fair share for the last several years. It's unfortunate that we are hit so hard at once, but it makes sense that we, as one of the larger Missouri United Methodist Churches, pull our weight.
Maintenance and Increased heating and cooling costs - (+)$??? - Our repair costs for our heating and cooling units for 2007 have run about $12,000 more than we budgeted. None of us expected that to happen on a building that is 10 years and 4 years old. We'll need to add more to our budget for 2008 but that amount has not been determined as of yet. There are also deferred maintenance issues that need to be addressed before too long. (Can you say "Worship Center Carpet?)
Fourth Worship Service - (+) $10-$15,000 - We will be adding a fourth worship service around Easter time. That service will be designed around our, nearly completed, demographic/psychographic research. The point to adding a new service is to add more opportunities to reach those who aren't here yet. They won't know if we don't invite them. A promotional campaign will need to be funded if we are going to succeed in our efforts.
Staffing - (+)$15-$30,000 - I've recently completed the first step in a process of evaluating our current and future staff needs. It has become evident that there is one task that is being completed by all our staff members but not being held as a primary focus of any of them. That task is communication. Kevin handles our website communication. Colene has responsibility for internal communications (primarily newsletter and Sunday bulletin among other things). Marsha cares for external communication and doubles up with Colene on the lobby displays. Tammy handles communications with youth workers and youth. Diane cares for all financial and stewardship communications. Clearly we need to have a person whose responsibility is to coordinate and update our systems of communication, increase our ability to communicate electronically, and devise new ways of communicating the good news of what God is doing through our church. In taking the pressure off of each of these other staff members, they will be able to focus on the other areas of ministry where they can have a larger impact. I anticipate this being a part-time position initially and evolving into a full-time job for someone with the talents and training for such a position.
I'm sure there are more areas where spending will increase. I haven't mentioned anything about payroll, ministry supply costs, snow removal, lawn care and so on. If you have any questions about these things or others you may call me or Diane at the office number - 816-734-2216.
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