Congregational meeting information

The virtual Congregational Meeting will take place on Sunday, November 22 immediately after worship. Morning worship and this meeting will take place over Zoom, just as we did in May. If you have not used Zoom before, rest assured that Council members will be in contact with all voting members before November 22 to help you find a way to participate in the meeting. Details about how to join should be in your packet that was mailed, and will be distributed again as we get closer to the date.
  
This year we have three pieces of business to conduct at the Congregational Meeting. They are as follows:

1. Elect a Nominating Committee
2. Elect Synod Voting Members
3. Adopt a budget for 2021

 
The church’s Finance Ministry has been hard at work over these last several months drafting a budget that the Council feels will be a representation of our church living out its mission to proclaim, welcome, and serve over the next year. Following are links to the proposed budget, as well as current financial statements. We know there will be questions and discussions about the budget, so we will be holding a budget meeting on October 26th at 7pm.

​But first, some words from our Treasurer:

 
Greetings! There are some things about our financial picture and our proposed budget that I would like to clarify. I know that some of this information is not interesting to all of us. However, I would like to provide you with some clarification of what you will see.

• We have been blessed this year with a most generous response in giving to support the goals and activities of our congregation. Offerings have exceeded our budgeted amounts despite the challenges of the pandemic changes we were required to make.
• There are two different scenarios on the enclosed budget for next year. The first is a proposed budget for 2021 assuming we are able to return to in-person worship for the entirety of the year. The second assumes we will be in pandemic mode for most of the year. The most likely scenario is a combination of the two. 
• What we have labeled "Net Operating Income" is the difference between our cash income and our cash expenses. This number does not include the change in value of our investments because that is not cash we receive, but the increase in our investments due to market fluctuations. We would only realize this income if we sold our investments (transferred that money into our checking accounts). Although a transfer was planned, we did not need it in 2020 to support our expenses because we received cash from several other sources.
• We received cash from a grant of $7,000 from the federal government and two loans in the amounts of $10,000 and $49,295 to insure that we were not forced to lay off our employees due to reduced income from the pandemic. These are the PPP loans may have heard about. You can find this money reflected in our Balance Sheet as “PPP Loan” under Liabilities. We will have to pay back an estimated $10,000 at some point and plan that $39,295 will be forgiven. 
• This year we also received a donation of $100,000 from St. John's Lutheran Church because of our LGBTQIA+ ministry. You will find this gift reflected under Other Income in the 2020 actuals of the Proposed Budget worksheet. $5,000 of that gift was given to Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) in 2020.
• Part of our planned transfer of funds comes from a restricted gift that we call the Bryer Fund. The portion restricted for “choir” has been spent and we are now paying all of our choir expenses out of our cash income. There are still funds remaining in the library fund, the Sunday school fund, and the Deacon fund. Our designated spending from these restricted funds will offset our Net Operating Income. You can see this reflected in the Proposed Budget. 
• There is an item on the 2020 actuals on our Proposed Budget called Depreciation Expense. This is not a cash expenditure but the measured recording of the cost over time of items we purchased that are durable and long lasting. It is a required item to be listed, but has no impact on the budget or our cash position.
• There are several items in the Proposed 2021 Budget that were not extracted in detail or included in our 2020 budget. You will see them as: Local Speakers. Out of Town Speakers, Health Insurance Allowance - Office Manager, Housing Equity, Video/Audio Apps and Licenses.

 

Proposed 2021 budget
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Balance sheet as of 9-30-2020