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Report to Council of Assembly March 2005

Current General Assembly financial position

  • In particular, Council endorsed the following A&F recommendations:

- Council of Assembly, related groups and committees will contribute to expenditure reductions by not incurring travel or accommodation costs for the remainder of the financial year. Committees and groups are being challenged to look at creative ways of meeting – for instance split meetings between two centres – so that progress on key initiatives will continue.

- Assembly Office has already begun implementing austerity measures to prudently manage available funds for the remainder of the financial year.

- This financial year, reduce Assembly operating expenditure by $200,000 through a range of specific measures. More information will be made available about the implications for parishes and presbyteries over the next week once specifics have been finalised. Options for increasing Assembly income were discussed, and more information will be made available to the wider church about this next week.

- The strong focus on recovering unpaid Assembly Assessment is to continue. A&F is to work in partnership with presbyteries to recover unpaid monies. Council agreed that a case-by-case approach be taken with those parishes that have made no Assembly Assessment contribution. This will enable the development of tailored, creative solutions that maximise the ability of those parishes to make their Assembly Assessment payments.

  • In order to meet Assembly’s bills as they become due, Council approved an increased borrowing level of $1.1 million. A&F is provisionally looking to fund repayments from the sale of property assets owned by General Assembly. A further report is due to Council before a final decision is made about possible sale of the assets.

2005/06 General Assembly budget

  • A&F was authorised to investigate and consider a range of measures to decrease expenditure and/or increase income with a view to setting a balanced budget for the 2005/06 financial year.
  • A&F will continue to focus on recovering unpaid Assembly Assessment monies while it is developing a budget that reflects realistic income and expenditure levels.
  • The General Assembly budget is being prepared with reference to the General Assembly 2004 decision that encourages Assembly to develop a balanced budget that reflects a realistic estimate of income. It will also take into account outcomes from the Focus on the Future conversations and the church’s future priorities. More information about the budget will be available following Council’s consideration in June 2005.

The Finance Support Group continues to assist the work of A&F and Assembly’s finance team.

Looking to the future

The discussion on short-term solutions to address the current situation raised questions for Council about how the whole Church can function effectively and sustainably. Council spent considerable time discussing medium and long-term opportunities to look at different ways of doing things. To this end Council authorised the investigation of a number of initiatives that will contribute to more effective stewardship of Church resources.

Parish statistics

  • Council noted that around 40 parishes had yet to provide their annual statistics. Up-to-date statistics are needed to ensure that Assembly Assessment calculations are accurate, and to provide accurate data for the 2005/06 budget.