Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori introduced the 2010-2012 budget by noting that “death” was reflected in it: death of programs and reductions of staff.
 
The $141 million, three-year budget presented by the Program Budget and Finance Committee represents a $12 million reduction compared to the budget approved for the 2007-2009 triennium, and $20 million less than the amount approved by Executive Council in January.
 
The austerity budget “reflects the scarcity that we are experiencing across the church,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said, emphasizing that there would be a resurrection. Her remarks were echoed by Pan Adams-McCaslin, chair of the Program Budget and Finance Committee, who noted that the budget reflected economic changes and changes in patterns of giving in diocesan finance.
 
“We learned from you and others,” said the Bishop Andrew Smith of Connecticut, vice-chair of the committee. “These are not value statements on the quality or dedication of staff and volunteers.” He said the church needs to look at what it should be doing to enable congregations to do mission and ministry more effectively.
 
Commitments from dioceses, which comprise slightly less than 60 percent of income, are anticipated to decrease from $90 million during the 2007-2009 triennium to $79 million during the 2010-2012 triennium. Part of this decrease is due to a proposed reduction in the amount asked. The formula, which has not been changed since 1997, proposes exempting the first $120,000 of diocesan income from calculation, $20,000 more than the current exemption. While retaining the 21 percent recommended asking for 2010, the budget proposes reducing that amount to 20 percent in 2011 and 19 percent in 2012.
 
Since 2003 the number of dioceses contributing at the 21 percent level has declined from 53 to 27. In PB&F hearings held earlier in convention, numerous speakers asked what could be done to address this trend.
 
During an evening media briefing, Bishop Smith distinguished between those dioceses which are unable to pay and those which choose not to do so. He said the Episcopal Church plans to do much more in the future, especially through Executive Council over the next three years, to look at the relationship between dioceses and the provincial church.
 
“Some receive support and cannot give,” he said. “We want to remove the shame factor. The other question has to be addressed pastorally” and directly, he added.
 
Under the proposed PB&F budget, various aspects of mission funding were cut between 20 and 100 percent from the budget proposed by Executive Council last January. For instance the Mission Coordinator office was reduced from $1.4 million during the 2007-2009 triennium to $211,406 for the next three-year period.
 
Virtually every department saw a reduction in funding from what Executive Council recommended with the exception of the Presiding Bishop’s Office, especially legal funding. Legal Support for reorganizing dioceses was increased 900 percent to $3 million over the next three-year period. Title IV and Legal Assistance to Dioceses was increased to $4 million, an increase of 122 percent. These items are all categorized under the Presiding Bishop’s Office, whose overall budget increased 15 percent.
 
In notes to the budget, the PB&F states that “the inclusion of $3 million during the next triennium for legal assistance to dioceses is an amount less than was spent during the current triennium to support Episcopal dioceses in reorganization that need to protect themselves against the loss of their property. We emphasize that this is an estimate based on similar expenses to date and is intended to provide funds to further the successful measures taken to protect assets of dioceses valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. As with any estimate, it may be over or under the actual expenses that will be incurred in the coming triennium.”
 
The proposed budget also recommends reducing General Convention from 10 days to eight, along with significant cuts in the funding for the committees, commissions, agencies and boards (CCABs) under the supervision of General Convention. Most CCABs would meet via teleconference after initial training. Overall the General Convention budget has been slated for a reduction of 19 percent, with the CCABs seeing a 42 percent reduction in their funding.
 
The Mission Funding Development Office and the Mission Coordination/Mission Direction department have been essentially eliminated. Overall mission funding and the Episcopal Church Foundation have been cut 67 percent.
 
The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa and a member of the PB&F, said the committee attempted to prioritize the budget based on the concept of subsidiary.
 
“There are certain things in the life of the church right now that don’t need to be done at the national level,” he said. At the same time, many of the neediest ministries, such as aid to dependent dioceses, the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf and Episcopal Appalachian Ministries, were among a number which received no funding decrease at all, Bishop Scarfe said.
 
Among those departments enjoying an increase in funding are Social & Economic Justice, Jubilee Ministries, the Mission Leadership Center, and Direction & Administration. The Washington, D.C., Office of Governmental Relations, which lobbies Congress on behalf of General Convention priorities, was cut by 1 percent.
 
Funding for the Anglican Communion has also been significantly cut, with the Inter-Anglican Budget/Secretariat being reduced 33 percent from the $1.8 million figure proposed by Executive Council. In its proposed budget last January, Executive Council had proposed no increase over the amount contributed during the 2007-2009 triennium.
 
Steve Waring reporting from General Convention in Anaheim.
 
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