Biting the Budget Bullet

Discussion by the Board of Directors of the Synod’s 2008/2009 operating budget required less than three hours of the board’s May 8–9 meeting, but it was discussion colored with words like “reduction” and “reluctance” and “out of options.” Words of encouragement from Board Chairman Donald Muchow that “God is with us and we should be thankful and grateful for every penny for which we are stewards” could not spare the board the difficult decisions necessary to produce a balanced budget. It was time to bite the proverbial budget bullet harder than before.

Preliminary work by Synod financial officers and extraordinary collaborative cooperation from department heads had already reduced an earlier anticipated $5.1 million shortfall in revenue to $1.9 million, but projected income figures and the goal of a balanced budget made it necessary for the board to reduce the budget’s unrestricted income spending plan by an additional ten percent.

Recognizing that internal general and administrative cost-cutting measures could no longer provide the entire solution, the board pondered numerous options that included sizeable reductions in mission and ministry areas before reaching its $1.9 million reductions goal. A spending plan totaling $83,302,259 was adopted unanimously.

President Gerald Kieschnick commented that “the need for harsh measures has been a long time in coming,” with 35-year-old 1973 unrestricted revenue numbers exceeding this year’s anticipated undesignated income, even before adjustment for inflation. He also called attention to the need to encourage congregations to respond to district needs as well as those of the Synod, since many districts also are being forced by budget considerations to make reductions in their staff and programs.

But even as the board labored to arrive at a balanced budget, its discussions surfaced some positive considerations that suggest a brighter fiscal future for the Synod. The LCEF-sponsored stewardship training promotion, “Consecrated Stewards,” is producing measurable favorable results for participating congregations. Remittances from districts show positive signs of increased unrestricted income support for the Synod. The work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance holds additional promise as the task force takes into consideration the 2007 report of the Task Force for Funding the Mission and contemplates helpful and cost effective structural changes.

The adopted 2008/2009 Mission and Ministry Operating Budget, printed in this edition of Board Briefs, signals the Synod’s readiness to move into another fiscal year. Its unanimous vote seconded the encouragement offered by its chairman during the budget deliberations: “We must think carefully about the vision and mission of our Synod and let that serve as the plumb line for all that we say and do,…to the glory of God.”

The board also approved the 2008/2009 Capital Budget totaling $790,400, approving the following capital expenditures of more than $5,000 with a useful life of longer than one year.