Minutes of the Commission on Finance for May 2011

Diocese of Rhode Island

Commission on Finance

Meeting, May 10, 2011

Higgins Room

Present: Robert Batchelor; Robert Bergstrand; The Rev. Dcn Edwin Hallenbeck; Scott Nicholson; The Rev. John Pallard; The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf; Jamie Worrell.

Also present: Canon Ty Creason; Canon Elizabeth Fornal; Ronald Turnbull.

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am by Chair Nicholson.

Opening prayer was offered by Bishop Wolf.

The Minutes of the Meeting of April 12, 2011 were approved as distributed.

Treasurer’s Report for April 2011 was reviewed by Mr. Batchelor noting there continue to be timing issues resulting in some budget lines appearing out of line. These are expected and smooth out as the year progresses. Apportionment income continues similar to recent years. A total of 27 months of arrearage compared to 39 months at the same time in 2010.

Apportionment Report. Several parishes continue to lag in prompt payments. The chart below notes all that are two or more months behind.

#	Months in Arr		Parish / Location	Comments
	2010	2011
2	0	2	St. John’s, Ashton
6	Spec	Spec	St. Michael’s, Bristol	$7,980. Negotiation in process
38	0	2	Christ Church, Lincoln
43	1	3	St. Columba’s, Middletown
47	0	4	St. John’s, Newport
83	3	3	Ascension, Wakefield
93	2	3	Christ Church, Westerly	Interim

Note: All Parishes two or more months behind will be listed each month.

Old Business.

St. Michael’s Church, Bristol. Following a number of months of discussion, Mr. Nicholson reviewed his recent meetings with parish leadership. A letter dated April 14, 2011 was received proposing a resolution of the $40,672.20 due over a period of 30 months and beginning full apportionment payments in May for 2011. There followed a lengthy discussion, concluding that the matter should be resolved in a much shorter period. Three options for concluding the matter were suggested:

a) Pay in full this year, prior to December 31^st.

b) Pay in 12 to 15 months, with all 2011 apportionment due in 2011 paid by 12/31/11.

c) Absent either a or b, will be considered a petition to become an Aided or Mission parish, referred to the Standing Committee for further consideration.

St. John’s, Newport. Unable to come to today’s meeting, will attend June 14.

Bishop’s Election Budget. This matter was held over from the April 12 meeting. As called for by the Canon the Bishop, with advice from a working subcommittee drafted a budget for the Bishop Search process, see minutes of 4/12/11, totaling $175,000. This reflects previous experience in this Diocese and information available from Bishop Matthews of recent and current experience in other dioceses. Following a lengthy discussion it was MOVED, SECONDED and VOTED to forward the Proposed Budget for the Bishop Election process to Diocesan Council for final approval, transmission to the Search and Transition Committees and for ongoing monitoring by the Ad Hoc Committee, Finance Office and Treasurer.

There followed an additional lengthy discussion regarding the manner by which the Bishop Election Budget would be funded. Several suggestions were made with a conclusion that funding come from several sources including participation by all parishes and other available funds. It Was MOVED, SECONDED and VOTED to recommend to Diocesan Council that Funds for the Bishop Election Process be provided by the following four sources:

a) Former Insurance Retention Fund, remainder,

excluding corpus $60,000.

b) Diocesan Budget for 2011 (in current budget) 10,000.

c) Diocesan Budget for 2012 (to be proposed) 25,000.

d) Special Assessment of all parishes, starting

Jan 2012 for 2 years 80,000.

Total Funding Available $175,000.

Note: Line d assessment details, will be prorated on size of parish, details to be worked out.

Revolving Loan Fund. Revised Application and materials were distributed.

Endowment Draw. Mr . Batchelor stated he is preparing a Worksheet to state excessive draw rates by parishes and potential drawdown time to exhaust funds.

Real Estate. Canon Creason provided updates on surplus church properties in Pascoag and Warren.

Parochial Report Receipts. Mr. Turnbull distributed a log sheet of Reports received, noting a number still missing. Contact persons are urged to continue with follow up. Canon Fornal will review Parish Reports from all parishes in transition. An active search process of churches/missions in transition may not be undertaken if there are outstanding reports due.

Task Force Financing. It was noted that the Mission Task Force and the 2015 Task Force for Strategic Needs and Planning, established by the 2010 Convention have been given assignments that will require financial outlays, and neither has been appropriated any budget. It was agreed that each Task Force be asked to submit a budget to Canon Creason which may then be considered by P&B, and COF as appropriate. No funds will be expended without an approved budget.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Edwin F Hallenbeck, Secretary

Next meeting: June 14, 2011 at 10:00 am.