LAKELAND — Despite increased apportionment giving by Florida Conference United Methodist churches during the summer months, the conference’s financial situation is still "tight," according to Dr. Randy Casey-Rutland, interim conference treasurer.

"Our cash flow is tight, but stable," he said. "If apportionment giving stays on trend, we’ll end this year better than last year. I’m encouraged that the trend is upward."

At the Aug. 31 meeting of the Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CF&A), Casey-Rutland said Florida Conference churches had been giving an average of $9,000 per month less during the first four months of 2000 than during the same time in 1999. During May, July and August, however, churches gave a total of $548,804 more than they did in those months in 1999. In July, churches gave just over $45,000 more than last year, putting the conference nearly $302,000 ahead of 1999 through the end of July.

"For the summer, we’re in a fairly good place for us to be, given the decrease in summer giving," Casey-Rutland said. "Some churches are giving [apportionments] in full, and some are paying regularly, so it’s doing a better job and accelerating."

Despite the increased giving, Casey-Rutland said the conference is still below the average $1.28 million it needs monthly to meet expenses. In August, he said, the conference received $792,000.

Several members of the council expressed concern that the current increase is taking away from the year-end spike in giving the conference normally experiences and that efforts to increase apportionment giving are rearranging current giving trends, rather than having a long-term effect. The Florida Conference receives nearly one-third of its annual apportionments after Dec. 1, according to Casey-Rutland.

Casey-Rutland also announced that the conference has not yet had to use a $1 million line of credit approved early this year by CF&A. The credit would be borrowed from current conference insurance and New Church Development funds in reserve and would be paid back to those funds with interest.

He said the conference is still surviving month-to-month without the credit because available cash remains just over $1 million. "When we go below $1 million we’re in danger of not being able to pay all of our bills in a timely manner," Casey-Rutland said. The largest of those bills includes health insurance premiums and apportionment payouts to districts and the general church.