In our amalgamation talks with All Saints Westboro there have been two meetings recently: The combined finance committee (while I was away), and a combined corporation meeting held July 21st.
The finance committee looked at a first draft of a proposed budget for the amalgamated parish. At this point much of this is 'best guess' as we do not have (and to some degree cannot have) a full view of 'Diocesan Fair Share' until after the amalgamation. The sample budget was also based on a guess about giving after amalgamation. The number of 50% of income was chosen as a conservative number. (There is of course no way of knowing how accurate this number will be and the "industry standard" is higher.) It was felt there are still questions which need addressing which only a meeting with Michael Herbert could answer. Some of these questions are around what financial breaks there might be from the Diocese in the midst of the amalgamation process, what is likely to happen to the property of, and income from, St. Matthias, and remaining questions on some of the parish's Consolidated Trust investments. We hope to have a meeting with Michael Herbert fairly soon to solves some of these. It was suggested that a series of budgets looking at different scenarios be produced to give us a sense of the breadth of possibilities.
The combined corporation meeting reviewed the above material and heard some of the answers from questions identified initially at the finance meeting. This includes a reaffirmation that we should be able to take all of our investment income. The proposed Diocesan Fair Share, after a quick calculation, would be just over 10% higher than initially projected at the finance meeting (but is subject to review and challenge depending on the results of the amalgamation-the diocese is invested in ensuring that such amalgamations succeed).
Corporation had questions of its own which need attention. These include what staffing costs will look like on the other side of amalgamation and what GIFT money can be turned to the initial costs of amalgamation (because this is a new ministry). Corporation also suggested that a more interesting figure than the first year of amalgamation budget (as amalgamations always have start-up costs) is what the budget might look like one or two years down the line.
The Corporation also looked at the question of stained Glass. All Saints may be able to make provision for 3 of our stained glass windows. However there is no energy on the part of either corporation to spend large amounts of money to move the glasses. They are quite expensive to retro fit and we do not want to deplete our financial resources on windows if the cost turns out to be exorbitant. There is also the question the replacement of removed windows as the building, at least on the short term, still needs to have windows! On the long run, the decision the diocese makes about the disposal of the property, will effect what happens to the stained glasses. Windows might be stored, sold, relocated, or given to interested families according to the best choice at the time.
We also looked at the question of our pipe organ. When the amalgamation motion came into being we got figures from Cassavant on moving the organ. They said that, if no renovations were needed, it would cost an estimated $90,000 to $120,000. The organ (which is arguably already too big for St. Matthias' needs) would definitely need to be rebuilt to be fitted into All Saints Westboro (which has a more modest worship space). This would increase the costs of a move very substantially and eat seriously into what assets we have. When one adds to this the roughly $900. per year our current pipe organs costs for annual maintenance, it makes good stewardship sense to use the existing organ at All Saints but to look at having it upgraded to meet our needs (it needs a new sound board and speakers). This is a substantially more modest cost and requires little annual maintenance.
After our discussions we ended our meeting again reflecting on how very much our two parishes have in common. Many of our priorities are similar or at least complimentary. In this coming year All Saints will be working on some new goals and objectives to celebrate their 150th anniversary. We will be invited to join them in this process so that we can bring along our visions and dreams as well.