Finance Council Meeting-September 25, 2019

Fr. Raj led prayer at 5:30.

Present:  Fr. Raj, Terry Brennan, Anne Welborn, Eileen Grant, Brad DeSaye, Bill Jacobs

Absent:  Yvonne Napolitano, Dan Putschoegl

Guests Present: Jim Wren, Donna Maneely

  1. Capital Campaign Report: figures as of September 25, 2019
  • Pledges and donations paid to Capital Campaign: $2,487,343

Completing the Mission Report: figures as of September 25, 2019

  • Pledges Made: $421,742
  • Total Contributed: $398,333
  • Balance on Reserve Fund Loan $79,000
  • Will pay another $5k this coming week to BOK Financial reserve loan
  1. Minutes Approval: July 24, 2019 Minutes approved
  • Terry asked if we can we accrue CEA funds. Jim stated there is nothing to base it on. Budgeted numbers are based on what the Development Director gave us. I explained most families were in 2nd round so first CEA check was low. Terry also stated that we need to get the message out about CEA and that people don’t understand CEA. They need to be educated.
  • Anne asked if the CEA amount changes during the year- -it does not. Terry wants to know if CEA can give us an accurate number of what we brought in, then maybe we can base an accrual on that number. Jim will ask Shelly to call CEA.
  • Anne motioned to accept the minutes, Brad seconded the motion- all approved
  1. Financial Statements: July and August Financials approved
  • Tuition- we have changed to full accrual accounting for school tuition- 1/10th of tuition is recognized every month for 10 months, and bad debt is recognized; will have to do a write off at end of year if we don’t receive all tuition money. Terry asked if 3% was enough for the bad debt expense. Jim said probably not but we have nothing to base it on. Next year we will.  Shelly should have a big impact on tuition. Numbers are down this year in school and preschool so we won’t be bringing in as much tuition.
  • Anne asked if we based the tuition budget on how many students the school forecasts? Yes. It was based on 175 students. The school does not have that many students this year. They have around 150. It was suggested to change the accrual amount to $17,500 from $25k, which would be more realistic. Jim asked if we should we adjust August financials.  Brad stated the amount should be $21,500 not $17,500 since it is around a 14% difference in students not 30%.
  • Anne made the motion to accept the July Financials, Bill seconded it, all approved
  • Anne made the motion to accept the August financials with the change to the school tuition income to $21,5000 from $25,000 per month based on changing the tuition receivable amount to $215,000 from $250,000, Eileen seconded it; all approved
  • Jim also spoke to the change in how Depreciation is stated. It has been changed to a real depreciation entry each month taken from the depreciation schedule. Also Jim explained the reserve transfer is a cash to cash entry-debit reserve cash and credit reserve transfer.
  • Anne commented that the Budget so far is close to actual

 

  1. Bank Statement Approval:
  • Bill reviewed the July bank statements; no discrepancies noted
  • Anne reviewed the August bank statements; no discrepancies noted
  • Terry asked Donna to email the Finance Council members a schedule to let them know when they are doing the bank reconciliation each month

 

  1. Pastor’s Report:
  • The Annual Corporation meeting was held last Friday with Bishop Olmsted. Fr. Raj and Terry gave a report on Sacred Heart’s finances and ministries.
  • Raj discussed that the Ministry Directors watched and discussed a video on how to become an Amazing Parish.
  • We are still looking for a Development Director. Fr. wondered if we need this position, Jim said yes. Jim said one person applied but when they found out the salary, bowed out. We have another applicant and are waiting to hear if Shelly would like to interview him.
  • discussed some new ministries that have formed or will be forming: Martha’s Altar ministry, which helps with cleaning the altar and altar linens, Deacon Ernie’s new veteran’s ministry, new bible study for women and a bible program for those with addictions.
  • Sacred Heart is also reaching out to our younger parishioners. We have an active group at Embry Riddle and hoping to reach out to Yavapai College and Prescott College.
  • Hopefest is this Saturday. Jim will be there with Muriel and Al Caccavale. The event is an outreach to the community.
  • Raj is happy with our financial transparency in the bulletin and with our capital campaign brochure.
  • Raj would like the Finance Council’s help to look at our St. Vincent De Paul donation. We currently give them $900 a month and the 5th Sunday second collection goes to them. He asked SVdP to let us know what they get from this collection-around $3,000-$5,000. He stated that we only give Catholic Charities $100 per month and there are many other charities we can give to. We will make an agenda item next month to discuss what our approach should be for charitable giving.
  • The Diocesan Capital Campaign is going well. We held the Bishop’s reception and the cabinet is meeting with some families. This is the quiet phase. The campaign will start in December. We already have received 10% of our total goal which is $1.7million.
  • Heritage festival which we hold every 3rd Sunday in October to celebrate our culture and faith is from October 17th through October 20th. The theme is Rejoice and Be Glad. He hopes the Finance Council will participate. The new parishioner dinner will be on the opening day of Heritage Weekend, October 17th. Fr. Raj would like to have at least one person from each of the councils attend the dinner to help and answer questions.

 

  1. Parish Manager Report:
  • Hopefest is this Saturday, September 28th. Jim, Muriel, and Al will be there hosting the booth from 10am-4pm. The Ministry directory, RCIA and youth information and rosaries made by the Atrium kids will be at the booth. Also the Contemplative Prayer group will be there in the prayer tent. It is a good community event and there will be events for children and a concert in the evening.
  • The Light of the World retreat was last weekend. 20 people signed up and it was a success.
  • Greg Kozlowksi will be giving an investment presentation for parishioners on October 23, 2019. This free class is to teach basic investing and there will be a morning and evening session.
  • The Knights of Columbus are going to start renovating the Forum. They will be painting and then redoing the ceiling tiles during fall break. They will do the flooring another time when they have the money.
  • We have had continuous problems with the Sound system. Jim spoke with the president of the company and was able to get the warranty extended for another year. Someone from the company came up for a Saturday Vigil Mass to make any necessary adjustments. The monitor wasn’t working so more adjustments were made.
  • Kathy Tuley from Catholic Mutual came for the annual walk through for risk management. Her report was good. The only one citation in the church was in the Youth Center. The plates weren’t put back on since Al had just painted. In the school-one emergency light was not working, which was an easy fix. Also the safety cords for closing doors quickly were put on top of the fire extinguishers, which is not allowed.
  • Jim stated that there are plans to use the recent bequest for security improvements and possibly to pay down the reserve loan. The school received $50k from a parishioner for STEM programs. We had to get approval from the bishop since the money was restricted. Also a bequest for $60k will be coming to the school soon. This is not restricted so it will be part of the Bishop’s Assessment.
  • There was a discussion about legal trade names. Brad suggested that we purchase trade names for Sacred Heart to possibly mitigate any legal issues. Jim will contact Doug Pritchard at the diocese for guidance.

 

  • Old Business: None
  1. New Business:
  • Bill Jacobs discussed amending the Reserve Fund Investment Policy. He recommends under the Control section to change Business Manager to Parish Manager. He also suggests removing “Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) of the Diocese of Phoenix Sacred Heart account or other” to, “All funds will be deposited into institutions approved by the Diocese.” Bill motioned to make the above changes to the investment policy and to nominate a second member to serve on the Investment committee with Terry. Anne suggested Bill be the second committee member with Terry. Bill then made the motion to make the above mentioned changes to the investment policy and he nominated Chris Kissel to be our advisor and for Terry and Bill to be the committee members. Brad seconded it. All approved.
  • Raj showed the council the new ministry directory that we will hand out to the new parishioners.

 

Fr. Raj led closing prayer at 6:44pm

Respectfully Submitted by Donna Maneely