San Francisco Presbytery founders in sea of red ink
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman, October 6, 2011
The Presbytery of San Francisco has published an urgent appeal, asking its churches to bail it out of its financial crisis. According to its report, since 2003 the total amount of per capita bills that the presbytery’s churches have not paid is $232,000. That deficit is projected to increase by $74,000 in 2011.
Often described as “what it costs to be a Presbyterian,” per capita is a per member assessment billed by the presbytery to local churches. That amount purports to cover not only the presbytery’s operating costs, but those of the synod and the General Assembly.
In San Francisco’s case, the presbytery portion is $16.68; Synod of the Pacific is $5.17; and General Assembly is $6.15, for a total of $28.00 per member that the presbytery asks its churches to pay.
Accounts un-receivable
The problem is that local churches are not required to pay per capita, and in San Francisco’s case, many do not. In fact, according to the presbytery’s latest published report, churches representing the equivalent of more that 2,600 members failed to pay. (http://www.presbyteryofsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2012-Mission-booklet-for-web-and-email-09-30-2011.pdf)
That puts the presbytery between a rock and a hard place, because while the General Assembly cannot require a local church to pay, it can and does require the presbytery to pay the bill. “Any withholding of per capita creates a penalty for local presbytery mission but has NO impact on the policies of the national church,” says San Francisco’s appeal.
Differently abled
San Francisco’s statement is only partially true. The General Assembly rule is that presbyteries must pay the full per capita for their churches if they are able to do so. Some presbyteries send to the General Assembly only the amount that they collect from their churches, declaring that they are unable to send the entire requested amount without doing serious damage to their own mission enterprise.
So how does San Francisco handle its deficit after paying General Assembly per capita on behalf of all its churches? “Any congregation unable or unwilling to pay their fair share forces the presbytery to make up the difference by drawing on its reserves; cutting services and program for that year and/or using the mission giving from your sister churches to make up the difference,” says the appeal.
San Francisco’s leadership council proposes to fund its looming 2012 budget deficit from three sources.
(1) 1/3 of the money will come from a 10 percent reduction of presbytery staff and services. San Francisco has reduced its budget by this amount each year for the past three years, so the current proposal represents a cumulative 40 percent reduction over a four year period, a significant blow to the presbytery’s operation.
(2) 1/3 of the money will come from “internal sources such as bequests or assets.” But San Francisco says that its past draw downs from reserves to cover per capita shortfalls have left it with “no remaining reserve money to draw upon.” So unless 2012 includes an abundance of funerals, the presbytery may be reduced to liquidating properties.
(3) 1/3 of the money will come from “an increase in per capita of about $3 per member.” This proposal may prove problematic in light of the fact that local churches cannot be required to pay per capita and the presbytery says its current crisis is due to the inability or unwillingness of its churches to make such payments.
Domino deficits expected
San Francisco Presbytery’s per capita problem is not unique. Many presbyteries are facing similar financial shortfalls as some of their large congregations choose to leave the denomination and many others that remain, albeit unhappily, have cut off funding for all governing bodies beyond the local church.
So far, the General Assembly has not borne the full impact of those local church decisions because presbyteries like San Francisco have absorbed the loss. But those days may soon be over as presbyteries deplete their reserves and face financial challenges of their own.