Note #9264 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06237 April 27, 2006
GAC considering proposed budget cuts
Reductions exceed $9 million; layoffs due Monday
by Toya Richards Hill
LOUISVILLE - With the numbers crunched and the tallies in, the bottom line is $97.1 million.
That's the estimate of what's available to keep the national and international mission and ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) running for 2007-2008, based on calculations staff leaders presented to the General Assembly Council (GAC) here Wednesday (April 26).
It's about $16.8 million less than the denomination's current budget of $113.9 million. If the GAC approves the numbers Saturday, it will bring the most expansive layoff of PC(USA) staff and program and service cuts since Presbyterian reunion in 1983.
Budget cuts amounting to $9.1 million, mainly accomplished through staff reductions, are to be put before the GAC. On Monday (May 1), the major downsizing will be rolled out at PC(USA) headquarters here. All staff members will get hand-delivered letters advising them of their employment status.
Most of the remaining $7.7 million shortfall is to be covered by changes in how some income, such as revenue from PC(USA) conference centers, is reported.
This budget "is a critically important starting point," PC(USA) Executive Director John Detterick said during the GAC's opening plenary. He stressed the preliminary nature of the estimates, particularly because revenue figures for 2006 are not finalized.
Of the $97.1 budgeted, about $69 million is slated for restricted use and $28.1 million for unrestricted use.
Detailed breakdowns of the proposed cuts will be outlined in private sessions open only to voting members of the GAC today (April 27) through Saturday.
Private sessions differ from executive sessions in that they exclude corresponding and co-opted GAC members. The decision to consider the budget in private rather than in executive session drew dissent during Wednesday's meeting.
Some senior staff are being allowed to attend the private sessions to help interpret the budget proposals.
Detterick told the GAC that the proposed budget was built on "middle ground" between worst- and best-case financial scenarios.
"Is that an accurate forecast? I don't know," he said. But "we don't want to go through this again two years from now."
The forecast acknowledges the need for enough cuts to "let us get through the next four years, not just the next two years," he added.
The foundation of the proposed budget are the eight objectives of the 2007-2008 Mission Work Plan (MWP): evangelism, multi-culturalism, poverty, peace, Reformed identity, families, vocation and small churches.
"We've been though the process of trying to determine ... what work is absolutely critical ... to accomplishing the eight objectives that you laid out," Detterick told the council. "The process of going through and identifying essential (work) was long and very involved."
All programmatic work at the Presbyterian Center was classified as essential, helpful, or not relevant to the MWP.
"What you see here is the sum of what we are recommending to you in terms ... of programmatic work," Deterrick said.
Of the eight work-plan areas, poverty received the largest allocation of dollars, with nearly $22.8 million. It was followed by evangelism, $16.7 million; vocation, $11.5 million; Reformed identity, $9.4 million; peace, $3.2 million; and multi-cultural, $2.6 million. The smallest allocations were for families, $938,000; and small churches, $559,000.
Detterick said the allocations were based on the scope of the objectives as laid out in the MWP, which is why some areas received more money than others.
In total, $68 million is budgeted for essential program work. An additional $11.2 million is earmarked for essential support work, such as finance and accounting, human resources management, legal services and communications, and $12.5 million for other expenses such as building services, insurance and audit fees.
"I suspect that virtually every one of you will be unhappy with some or a few of the cuts," Detterick told the council members. "It is possible that somebody might want to make a change."
However, he cautioned that, if something is to be added to the budget, "something that is in will have to be taken out."
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