Finance
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- Income and Expenditure to June 2023
JJ spoke to his report.
Income Overall it looks like good news but there is a sting in the tail. Planned giving has been better sustained than expected but this is dependent on one giver having continued unexpectedly. The main increase in collections and donations is the concerts – from refreshments income – rather than people generally increasing their donations.
Church and Porch Room rent is also doing well and in future reports JJ will link this income with Concerts. There is no income yet from the Hub and Youth Club. There are fewer weddings this year but more burials.
Overall income is about £9K more than budget.
Expenditure Any saving from lowering the church temperature has been negated by increase of electricity costs. Repairs and maintenance are over budget because of expenditure held over from last year.
There are other small variations, and hospitality expenditure is over budget but this is more than balanced by the donations it generates.
There is therefore a small surplus at the end of the first six months so we are doing well on the face of it.
Fabric Fund is well supplied. Organ Fund is doing well and gaining interest, and there is a further £1K+ from Music in the Garden to add.
All the summer concerts have re-booked for Christmas and people really like our acoustic and hospitality.
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- Potential increase in fuel costs
The main problem area is fuel costs. Our contract ends shortly and if we renew there is a huge potential increase of £24K so some means of meeting this additional cost needs to be found. JJ suggested this might come from Hub rent. Currently all our electricity is green but our gas isn’t. Going to 50% green gas would cost an additional £3k a year.
HG noted that there are proposals for community funding for solar panels and an air source heat pump at the Hub.
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- Possible re-introduction of floodlighting
A donor has offered to meet the cost of floodlighting the tower and meeting the electricity costs and JJ sought views on this. Issues about dark skies, costs, likely hours of illumination and future relations with the donor were discussed. The benefit is that it is a message to the community that the church is thriving and a beacon of hope but there were questions about how to justify it in an area where green issues are a concern.
5.4 Insurance – Aviva have now paid all costs following threat of legal action.
5.5 Diocesan payroll withdrawal – this was noted and the need to identify an alternative supplier. A number of parishes across the deanery are affected so some joint action may be possible.
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