November 4, 2012
Wy’east Board Meeting 11/4/2012
Present:
Board
Robyn
Tode
Nancy
Katie
Dan
Minister
Marcia
Guests:
Hank Hadaway
Ministers notes: approved
Budget:
Summary of the notes from the congregation in response to the budget forum
The board will release a statement from the board, along with a survey monkey survey to gauge the reaction.
Draft of email:
we understand that there was some unclear communication. There are differences of opinion on what revisiting the budget means.
The board believes we are exercising our fiduciary responsibility, informing the congregation and covering from savings. We understand that some people expected a vote. We apologize for communicating unclearly. We believe the budget we put forward is best for the health of Wy'east, avoids stunting our growth. Include a list of the additional things the congregation would get with more time from Marcia.
We have money in reserves to cover this budget this year.
We would like a straw poll to see if you approve the budget and our decision to take from reserves or would prefer to make hard choices and take deep cuts to our programs.
Action Items:
A statement from the board: Tode will collect input from all board members
Hard numbers from the treasurer: Dan will make a report/budget
A survey: (Include: are you a member?)
Robyn will make the survey (name would be optional)
Vote: Send out a Statement, Survey, and Treasurer’s report
All board members are in favor
Welcoming Congregations:
Dues, $150. We can wait but we choose to just pay it.
Hurricane Relief:
Mark would like a second collection for Hurricane relief. 2 in Dec. There are always 2 in December, maybe 2 in November. 2 in January.
RE Salaries:
Need to think about when we’re backdating it to. Dan will work with Betty to make the numbers work.
Proposal 14.50/hr for lead teachers and 11.50 for assistant.
Dan and Betty will decide how to organize the raise for the payroll tax.
All vote ‘Aye’
RE ‘fee’. We will keep it for now. Future requests should come through the board.
Marcia’s Time:
We will do a better job of communicating what Marcia actually does and will do for Wy’east!
The words in the membership page:
We don’t know if the ‘spiritual practice’ part is relevant.
Maybe think about a re-write. Marcia agrees.
Please find below the summary of the responses the board received. I have erred on the side of caution in omitting the names but I can add them back if congregants would like to have their names published.
This is an exceptionally good summary of the board’s position. However, there is no mention of any concerns of the congregation. At times, the board did not seem to be receptive to input. As a matter of fact, we had lunch with several members after the meeting and we were all wondering why we had the meeting.
At the spring budget forum we voted on a budget that several members had concerns about, but we were told that we would reexamine our finances in the fall at another budget forum. We interpreted that as meaning that if our financial position improved the board would increase Marcia’s compensation upon approval of the congregation. Apparently, there has been a misunderstanding.
.
We realize that the board is doing what they see is best for the congregation. However. we do not think the board made a good case for us being in a better financial position. Indeed, no financial date was given other than Dan’s pie chart. It would have been of benefit to give our current financial situation, ie. our current income/expenditures versus expected values.
We think Marcia made a good case for increasing her time and we welcome her further participation in the congregation. We would have voted to use our savings to have Marcia more involved with the congregation. However, we were left with a negative feeling when told no further input from the congregation was wanted. We believe the credibility of the board has taken a severe blow and it will be difficult to pass a budget in future years with the promise that they will reevaluate later in the year unless a formal congregation forum with a vote is guaranteed by the board.
We are committed to the success of the congregation and would like it to continue for many more years with a realistic budget.
In community,
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Thanks for your great notes from the last church meeting about the budget. Your notes were concise and thorough. I would like to have Marcia half time. -- and I plan to look at our personal budget and will probably pledge another 10%. I think the auction/theatre or musical event as a fund raiser would be good along with another garage sale. Perhaps we could use about $4,000 from savings and earn the other $3,000 by holding fundraisers. My thanks to you and the Board for your hard work.
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Hi Robyn.... Thanks for taking notes on the Congregational meeting last week. That's not an easy job and your summary is very well written. I can understand why you wouldn't try to summarize the concerns of the congregation. However, I'm thinking it would only be fair to folks who weren't able to be there to provide a more accurate picture. What they have before them is a much rosier view of where things are than reality would dictate.
I think the Board needs to acknowledge in some kind of written communication what the actual budget numbers are....and also what concerns were raised by those that were at the meeting. For example: Linda McPherson raised a good point about paying off the loan with money from savings as being a very high priority (because we are PAYING OUT a higher interest rate than we are getting from the savings-- basic common sense finances). Someone else (perhaps Karl) raised the point that we can solve this shortfall this year by using money from savings, but next year we will be having the same conversation unless some miracle happens to erase this $7,000 shortfall. I raised the point that many of the congregation's pledging members are retired and when we decide what we can pledge, there isn't going to be more money to add to it later, so no matter how deserving the pleas, we can't respond. Your notes no doubt include other substantive concerns.
I think it would be appropriate for the Board to report the actual budget numbers and then respond to some of the specific concerns that were raised and if the Board decides to not act on them, give some rationale for the decision. Last year (I believe in Spring 2011), Karl did an analysis that showed how much it costs annually, PER MEMBER, to maintain our budget. It was over $900. I tried a pledge that met that amount last year and it was not sustainable and this year I had to scale back to a level that's comfortable. I had a hard look at my finances and made my decision on what to pledge. I'm not able to hel
I can understand wanting to postpone the "hard choices" discussion on what we can do to continue the things we most value as a congregation... but it's unconscionable to tell the congregation that we'll somehow find the money when the situation has not improved since spring and the only substantive proposal is to use our savings to postpone it another 18 months. We cannot make up this deficit with garage sale profits and even if we add members, most of them will ADD to our expenses because of our per member cost and the unlikelihood that they will each pledge $1,000 per year. I also want to respond to the comment that this is just like municipal or commercial budgeting...I must disagree. We are not surrounded by a structure of departments where money can be moved from one place to another to fill deficits.
For a sustainable future we can take in more money and/or we can spend less....but we are doing the opposite: we're taking in less and committing to spending more. I would suggest scheduling some "hard choices" discussion sessions LONG before we're in this same place next year....and not during the summer when nobody is around.
Your email said you would share our comments with the Board and that's certainly fine with me. And again, thank you for sitting out the discussion in order to take lots of notes!
With best wishes,
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Thanks for excellent notes!
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Thank you for sending this out. I wasn’t able to stay for the meeting so really appreciate the recap.
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I am so glad to be back in Portland, and back at Wy'east. As many of you
know I spent a year in California helping to care for my grandsons, so I missed
last year's pledge drive, budget considerations, and annual meeting. Then
because of my fall I was out of the loop during October -- so here I am, sort
of jumping into the middle of things. I do, however, have some history with
Wy'east finances, having been both treasurer and board moderator, plus
board member and treasurer in former UU churches.
Church budget woes are a perennial issue, with large and small churches
alike. There is always tension between what we would like to do and how
much money there is to do it. There is also tension between being cautious
and taking a leap of faith.
Six years ago, Wy'east took a leap of faith when we asked Susan to become
our minister and then moved to morning services at the Hollywood Senior
Center. Many people significantly increased their pledges and we applied
for and received a grant and a loan from the Pacific UU Growth Foundation.
That leap of faith paid off in increased programming and more people. We
have been steadily paying off the loan, and have managed to grow our
savings back up to the level they were before we hired Susan. I was, in
fact, surprised to discover that we now have $20,000 in savings; the last
projection I had seen would have put us at $7,000 in savings this year.
So it seems to me that it is now time to ask ourselves if another leap of faith
is in order. Our three major expenditure items are our minister, our religious
education staff, and rent. Everything else is barely wiggle room. For me,
personally, the answer is yes; the savings are there to be used. As my
brother once told me on a wilderness hike, "There's no sense getting to the
end of the trail with an empty canteen." At the same time I want to see a
3 to 5 year projection that gets us back to growing our savings; a leap of
faith should not take us into a black hole.
Anyway, that's my vote. Thanks to everyone for being part of this conversation
and participating in the use of the democratic process that we affirm in our
fifth principle. The discussion is as important as the final decision, maybe
more important, and done well it is religious work.