Cuts in GAC staff, budget
will be announced Friday
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Layman, March 26, 2009
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Council is keeping mum on specific budget cuts until staffers can be notified of layoffs Friday afternoon. But a few insights into the denomination’s financial woes are trickling out as the GAC winds down its spring meeting.
Outreach budgets are on the chopping block. The office charged with administering funds from One Great Hour of Sharing, which supports hunger relief and disaster assistance ministries, will see cuts to the tune of $1.4 million. That’s according to Sara Lisherness, director of Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministries, who shared the news with the GAC’s Justice Committee on Thursday. Administrators of peacemaking offerings will also face cuts in the neighborhood of $100,000.
“Those are just the small changes,” she told the committee.
Meanwhile, GAC chief financial officer Joey Bailey told the GAC Stewardship Committee about what’s alleged to be a costly clerical error at U.S. Bank, trustee for some Presbyterian Foundation funds. The foundation was expecting more than $1 million in revenue from a particular asset pool, but due to what Bailey described as this “highly unusual situation,” that income would not be forthcoming this year.
“The Foundation is going to be pursuing this on a legal basis,” Bailey said. “We relied upon the [allegedly inaccurate] statements and are now suffering a loss.”
In a plenary session, GAC Executive Director Linda Valentine noted a long-term trend in increasingly restricted giving. Fifteen years ago, the PCUSA received 35 percent of its donations in the form of unrestricted gifts, but that percentage has now shrunk to 23 percent. These constraints, she said, are taking a toll.