Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish

                                                           Finance Council Minutes

                                              Finance Council Meeting-May 22, 2019

                                     “Being the Living Example of God’s Love to Others”

 

Fr. Raj began with thanking Jerry for serving on the Finance Council for 9 years. He also stated that Chris Kissel has resigned from the council. Eileen Grant is the new member as of May and Bill Jacobs will be a new member as of July. He then led with a prayer at 5:30 pm.

 

Present:  Fr. Raj, Terry Brennan, Jerry Shugars, Anne Welborn, Dan Putschoegl,  Eileen Grant

Absent:  Yvonne Napolitano, Brad DeSaye

Guests Present:  Jim Wren, Donna Maneely, Bill Jacobs

 

  1. Capital Campaign Report: figures as of May 22, 2019
  • Pledges and donations paid to Capital Campaign: $2,468,623

 

          Completing the Mission Report: figures as of April 24, 2019

  • Pledges Made:                                 $412,350
  • Total Contributed:                          $382,618

 

          Line of Credit:

  • Amount owed:                 $47.42

 

  • A check for $123,998.47 was sent to Notre Dame Federal Credit Union to pay off the Line of Credit.  Another check for $47.42 was sent for the additional interest since the payoff check was late on arriving.
  • Eileen asked if she should go back and correct some of the pledges that were put in incorrectly at the beginning of the Campaign. It was decided that she should.
  • It was agreed that Eileen will continue to deposit all Capital Campaign funds into One AZ Credit Union and pay off the amount borrowed from the reserve account.
  • Jerry motioned to pay 15k to BOK to start paying back the reserve account, Dan seconded it and the motion passed

 

  1. Minutes Approval: April 24, 2019 Minutes approved
  • Jerry had asked that the minutes state that the repaving in the Parish Manager’s report be amended to say repaving the church parking lot.
  • Jerry made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, Anne seconded it, all approved.

 

  1. Financial Statements: April Financials approved
  • School tuition is low again. Jim has spoken with the new principal and she will be looking into using an automated tuition program. The office staff will be contacting families who haven’t paid tuition this year, so according to Jim hopefully more tuition will be paid in June. A new tuition policy will be put in place next year.
  • The new principal is used to an automated system for tuition collection. It has been discussed before. Anne stated that the objection to using an outside company for tuition was that it was considered too unkind. More discussion will be had before any decision is made. Jim stated that current policy is not being followed as to tuition agreements.
  • Anne questioned as to why we haven’t received all of the CEA money. Donna explained that final numbers are not in by the time the budget is approved so the number is never 100% accurate.
  • Anne made a motion to approve the April Financials, Dan seconded it, motion passed.
  1. Bank Statement Approval: Anne reviewed April bank statements; all okay
  2. Pastor’s Report:
  • Fr. Raj baptized one of the preschoolers today with her preschool class attending.
  • It is the last week of school. 8th grade graduation was a nice ceremony, Preschool blessing was on Monday and Kindergarten graduation is tonight.
  • Pam’s retirement party is on Thursday, May 23 from 3-5pm
  • Starting in August: The priests have decided to add one more hour of confession each week-Wednesdays from 6-7pm and one evening Mass on Mondays at 5:30pm. They will see how the people respond.
  • The priests attended the Spring Convocation in Phoenix and had meetings with the Bishop and had wonderful speakers.
  • On December 2nd there will be a big diocesan 50th anniversary celebration.
  • Martha Gamez from the diocesan capital campaign met with Fr. Raj and some of the staff to discuss the campaign. There is a 6 month silent phase to take care of training and logistics. Fr. Raj will pick a cabinet to work with him. He estimates the campaign to be completed by December.

 

  1. Parish Manager Report:
  • Muriel, Al and Jim were on the Talk of the Town radio show today, May 22nd. They spoke of the history of Sacred Heart, the school, preschool, youth ministry and how to become catholic.
  • The Math, Religion and Art teachers have resigned. Shelly Cooper has already hired an excellent replacement for the Math/Religion teacher. We had to add family benefits for him to the school budget. His wife may be hired for the Art Teacher position. There is an office position open, but Shelly is looking into whether we need an additional person.
  • Jim stated that we have developed a great relationship with the city. Chelsea Walton from the city met with Jim and John about Fleury and Carondolet being city owned streets. They are speaking with the city about getting a Right of Way document so we can paint our own crosswalk. The city is going to put a bigger Sacred Heart Parish sign on Fleury Avenue for us. It will be double the size and have an arrow pointing up to the church.
  • On Pentecost Sunday, June 9th, we will host a speaker from the diocese, Paul Zucarelli. He had a near death experience. He has now devoted his life to evangelizing the Faith. The proceeds from sales of his book support the diocesan evangelizing efforts.
  • On August 10-11, Brother Mauricio Torres will be back with some relics. He will host a small Hispanic community retreat on that Saturday and he will have 2 more relics with him, St. John Paul II and St. Faustina.
  • Mission Vision and Values will be on July agenda. Finance council will be defining accountability. Jim will bring 12-15 definitions to pick from.

 

  1. Old Business:
  • Jim discussed the few changes made to the budgets since the last meeting.
    • Parish:
      • A few generous parishioners have moved or will be moving soon so we reduced plate income by the amount of their giving
      • We moved the Night Custodian salary all to Parish
      • The Statue of the Risen Christ expense was moved to the capital budget
    • School:
      • Reduced Instructional salaries by $2000
      • Health and dental insurance was increased by over 19k due to family benefits for the new Principal and Math/Religion teacher
      • Increased Theater income by $1000
      • Night custodian salary moved to Parish
      • Golf tournament-reduced expense by over $5k
      • Advertising expense reduced by $1000
      • Removed child study specialist per new Principal
    • Ministries:
      • The subsidy to Hispanic Ministry increased since the Ministry Director added family health insurance
      • No other changes to RCIA, Youth, Preschool or CGS.
    • Reserve Budget is not complete. The Finance Council was asked for their input.
      • Discussed the repaving of the church parking lot; the amount in the Reserve budget may not be enough. We need speed bumps but need the right of way before we can put them in on Fleury and Carondolet.
      • The organ seems to work fine according to Eileen so she doesn’t see the need for a new one. She suggested that they could use a keyboard instead.
      • There was a question whether the diocese should pay for the upkeep on the rental properties since they own them. Donna commented that the church keeps the rental income from the properties so it should be our responsibility.
      • The reserve budget will need more discussion in July
    • Jim brought Eileen and Bill up to date on the School Chiller installation; a decision needs to be made soon. To hook up without the gym only brought down the cost by 87k. Doing the installation will deplete the reserves by half. After July 1st the cost will go up because of increased tariffs.
    • Dan motioned to approve the 2019-2020 operating budget, Anne seconded it and the motion passed

 

  1. New Business:
  • The Diocesan Capital Campaign will give us back 35% of what Sacred Heart donates so we need to identify where to put this money. We will get a check every 6 months from the diocese. Fixing the school roof was one suggestion. We need to find out who put the roof on, Donna will research.
  • Jim asked the council for their recommendation on the amount of Endowment Disbursement. As it is already in the budget for the 4%, the council agreed on the 4%.

 

Fr. Raj end the meeting by stating that he feels blessed to have a great Finance Council. He passed out The Signs of Life book to the council.

Fr. Raj led closing prayer at 7:01 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely