Parish Finance Update – MARCH 2007

 

Over the past few months the Sacred Heart Finance Team has been reorganized, and has taken on the task of developing a deep understanding of the finances of the parish.  The result of that work is that we have good news and bad news to report to the parish. 

 

The good news is that through the first five months of our fiscal year (September through January) Sacred Heart has been running in the black.  This is due primarily to:  (1) savings on utilities and on snowplowing due to the “milder than average” winter we are experiencing this year, (2) some unexpected income in the form of one time donations - “A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THOSE FOLKS” and (3) savings that we were able to achieve this year in some regular expense items (for example we will save $1,200 annually from the switch we made in our collection envelopes).

 

There has not been any significant increase in the weekly or monthly collections during this period.

 

The bad news is that based on our current projections for the remaining 7 months of the fiscal year, we project that the parish will end the year approximately $46,000 in the red.

 

In an effort to improve our financial situation the finance team will be working in the following areas:

·         Reducing expenses – we will be looking very closely at each expense item in the parish budget to determine if there are any additional opportunities for savings.

 

·         Increasing income – we will be looking at planning additional fundraisers to supplement the income we receive from collections.

 

·         Status reporting – we will improve the way that we update the parish on our financial status weekly in the bulletin so that it is based on our current understanding of the financial condition.

 

Some new members have joined the finance team and the team has worked hard to get us to this point.  Our ability to improve our financial situation going forward will require the wisdom and experience of others in the parish as well.  We need more VOLUNTEERS.  We need all of you, as Sacred Heart Parish, to come together to do the work needed to sustain our church. If you can contribute any of your time or talents to assist us in this effort, please contact any member of the finance team.

 

The Sacred Heart Finance Team

 

Tony Garramone

Jonathan Whitesell

Cindy Normandin

Dave Normandin

Mary Cockroft

Ed Holland

Kay Holmes

 

 

Kay Ghelli

Lisa Stewart

Hellen Gonzalez

Phil LeMarbre

Jessica LeMarbre