Board of Trustees Treasurer Judy Strachan delivered an interim financial report at the January 22nd service and I thought it was important enough to share with everyone. As with everything, there are high points and low points. Judy touched on a few of the more pertinent issues.
Overall expenses for the congregation are on budget. Some items are under and some are over, but there are no major variances from the budget at this time.
Our pledges are coming in at the expected rate. The Board thanks all of you for honoring your pledges and is grateful that you remain able to do so.
Rental income is $6,000 under budget and this variance is expected to increase slowly during the remainder of the year. In the fall we lost the rental income from our former day care center tenant. The Board is excited about our new tenant, the Independent Contemporary Arts Center (ICAC), because we believe it reflects our congregation’s values. ICAC plans after-school programs for school age children and daytime programs for toddlers teaching movement, music, stories, and art. However, since ICAC is in start-up mode, they are unable to pay the same rent as the prior tenant.
The auction is always a great event but this year it came in at about $7,000 under budget. This was attributed to the ever-troubled state of the economy, but is also due to the loss of several auction items which have historically generated substantial income.
Our funds invested with the UUA, including the Endow- ment Fund and the Capital Campaign Fund, have declined in value by about a total of $7,000 so far this fiscal year. This drop, of about 2% in the fund’s value, is due to the market turmoil in the fall, but will hopefully be made up by market gains in the first half of 2012.
Projecting to the end of the fiscal year, the congregation will have a small deficit. While we prefer to be in a position to continue to build the reserve fund for a few more years, the fund we have recently created is sufficient to cover the projected deficit, if needed.
Many thanks to Judy for this and for all of her hard work.
Teresa DeSousa
President, Board of Trustees