news article
Proposed 2024 Budget Approved at Annual Conference
June 12, 2023 / By Tara Barnes, Director of Denominational Relations, United Women in Faith
On June 2, the proposed 2024 Ministry Share Budget was presented to the 2023 Upper New York Annual Conference by Holly Roush, chair of the Upper New York Conference Council on Finance and Administration.
“Since we last met, CFA has continued to be very active. We have created the 2024 budget, formulated a plan to pay for the Child Victims Act settlements and legal fees, revised our 2022 spending plan, and worked to ensure support of the ministries of our conference,” Holly said.
She reported that revenue exceeded expenditures in 2022 and that 560 churches were able to pay their ministry shares in full. She also shared that the council uses the reduced spending plan proposed by the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration proposed to the 2020 General Conference to calculate the conference’s general apportionments owed.
The 2024 revised budget represents a reduction of $800,000 from the 2023 budget.
To create the budget, the council works with conference committee chairs to get the budget down to “real numbers,” Holly said, and find cost savings wherever possible while supporting vital ministries. The ministry share rate for local churches, she said, would remain similar to prior years.
The 2024 budget was supported as presented.
The budget can be found on pages 17-18 of the 2023 Pre-Conference Workbook and in updates to the workbook on our website.
The council also brought a recommendation, titled “Request to Allocate the Cost of the Child Victims Act Legal Fees and Settlement Costs,” which can also be found in the online workbook updates.
The proposal suggested the following means to pay the settle and legal fees: 24 percent from the General Fund, 17 percent from the Trustee Fun, and 59 percent from the Pension and Health Fund.
An amendment to exclude Camp & Retreat Ministries as funding sources was not supported.
After much debate, the Conference recessed for dinner, to continue discussion the next morning.
On Saturday June 3, a substitute recommendation tasking the Conference Leadership Team with further examination of possible funding sources was supported, the findings of which must be reported by the 2024 annual conference.