The 213th Annual Council - Diocese of Virginia

Proceedings
As with last year, we have placed the narrative budget on the Web to save resources and a
notice on this was sent to the Diocese this past week via the e-Communiqué.
Mr. Don Metheny, of Trinity Church in Fredericksburg, and chair of the Budget
Committee, will be presenting the proposed 2008 budget tomorrow. With the delta
between income and expenses the committee still has the task of balancing the budget,
which will be balanced at roughly $4,784,229, or thereabouts.
The Committee met at lunch today, and will hold an open hearing this afternoon
to receive comments on the proposed 2008 budget. When the budget is presented
tomorrow, any and all proposed changes to items will be delivered as a group, listed by
line item order, so that you may follow changes more easily.
My estimate is that a $76,536 gap needs to be addressed. This is the number we are
working from relative to 2008 income and expenses.
Last in this packet is the unaudited 2007 income statement of the Diocese shown as of
January 22, 2008, which was our cut-off date for the auditors. Many of you have seen this
report before, and the churches are listed by region.
In the remaining annual budget column, I would like to express my thanks for those with
brackets around a figure. These are churches that provided the budget in excess of their
stated pledge and helped narrow the deficit gap in late 2007. On page six, you will see the
pledges summarized at $4,165,145, which was about $18,000 over anticipated.
The “other income” lines’ income fell below budget by about $6,000. Several individual
donors made unrestricted gifts to the budget helped us during the year.
Total unaudited revenues for 2007 are therefore $4,530,181, or a revenue surplus of $14,374,
which meant that we achieved 100.32 percent of our expected revenue. Good work and
thank you. I hope that the unbiased press will report that good news.
Expenses follow and the layout mirrors the budget format. I trust that you can review
the items carefully, but there is one obvious expense for me to point out to you and that is
under professional fees at the top of page 10, which is the last page.
Our budgeted amount for professional services, which does include planned and regular
expenses for audit work, was exceeded by $1,688,624.
I hope you all will understand that this reality will be with us for a short time. With the
authorization of the Executive Board, I am using a line of credit to finance these costs in
the short-term. A line of credit is a basic part of any proper business financial plan and it
brings to mind a favorite quote of mine from scientist Dr. Louis Pasteur, “Chance favors
the prepared mind.” I knew in 2006 that this would be needed, and made appropriate
plans then. Unimproved diocesan-owned property will be sold to repay of this shortterm
remedy. I hope to close a working agreement by the third quarter of this year. Part
of the fallout of the sub-prime issues in the economy, related recessionary pressures and a
stalled development market caused the developer to place the sale on hold.
In October, I asked all staff to refrain from any discretionary program expenses and in
November, I did the same with several committee and commission chairs. That being done,
92
The Diocese of Virginia t Journal of the the 213 th Annual Council