LAKELAND — Local churches will find significant changes in their insurance bills and apportionments next year if proposals made by the Florida Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CF&A) at its Aug. 31 meeting are approved by the Annual Conference. Those changes will be presented to and voted on by lay and clergy delegates Oct. 5 at the special fall session of the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event at Morrison United Methodist Church in Leesburg.

Changes in the area of clergy support, which includes pensions, health insurance and salaries, and benefits for district superintendents, will have the most impact on the conference budget and local churches.

The primary goal of those changes, according to Interim Conference Treasurer Randy Casey-Rutland, is to "more accurately allocate costs in the way they are incurred." Casey-Rutland added that CF&A is trying to more accurately assign clergy-related costs to local churches.

One of the proposed changes is elimination of the 22 percent supplement the conference pays toward each active clergy’s health insurance. That represents a budget reduction of $1.25 million and a reduction in local church apportionments.

In conjunction with that change, the conference’s insurance committee asked CF&A to require mandatory participation by all churches with eligible clergy in the conference’s health insurance plan, whether the pastor participates or not. Eligible clergy are those local pastors and probationary and full-connection members who work 30 hours per week and earn 75 percent of the minimum salary, according to the Rev. David Dodge, executive director of the Board of Ordained Ministry.

The insurance committee also asked that CF&A propose a blended rate that would be billed to all churches, regardless of the level of coverage. Although rates for 2001 are not finalized, Dodge says churches currently paying for single coverage will experience a significant rate increase, while churches paying for family coverage will likely see a decrease.

The combination of eliminating the supplement and using the blended rate will affect churches differently, Dodge says. "Not every church will see their apportionments go down at the same rate as the insurance rate goes up, but there is a trade-off," he said.

The proposed insurance plan would benefit churches by simplifying their budgeting process. Churches that experience a change in pastors in June will not "have their budget skewed by a change in coverage level," Dodge said. It could also simplify the appointment process, since the cabinet will not have to consider whether a church can afford a prospective pastor’s insurance costs.

The blended rate will also simplify monthly billing procedures at the conference level, creating cost savings.

Casey-Rutland said two types of churches would experience "a significant increase" in 2001 apportionments if the proposed budget and apportionment formula pass. "The churches most likely to experience an increase… are churches that either experienced a significant increase in their total clergy compensation in 2000…and/or churches for which clergy compensation is a very large percent of their annual budget," he said.

Casey-Rutland said $75,000 was added to the 2001 Equitable Compensation budget "to help churches that may struggle with some of these changes, particularly those in the health insurance premiums."

In addition to the changes in the insurance program, CF&A recommends that all apportionment items related to clergy be placed in one category titled Clergy Support. Pensions, retiree benefits, Board of Ordained Ministry operating funds and salaries, district superintendents’ salaries and benefits, and Equitable Compensation would fall under that category. Clergy Support would then be divided into two categories, costs that all churches pay and those only specific churches incur. Only those churches with full-time clergy will pay for items specifically related to having full-time clergy, including pension, health insurance and retiree benefits. The costs for items that benefit all churches, such as having a Board of Ordained Ministry, district superintendents’ positions and Equitable Compensation, will be paid by all churches.

"Clergy Support targets the cost of having clergy in your church," Casey-Rutland said. "The minimum salary is only a piece of having clergy."

Much of the remainder of the 2001 budget is similar to this year’s. The total proposed budget for 2001 is approximately $17.1 million, a slight decrease from the 2000 budget.

That decrease occurs despite several factors to the contrary. Resolutions passed at the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event in June add funds for a new sewage treatment plant for the Leesburg facilities and a leadership team to implement the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries. The conference’s property insurance will likely increase by 10 percent, according to Frank Furman, a representative from the conference’s Risk Management committee.

To improve the conference’s cash flow and reduce costs associated with paper bills, Bill Walker, director of the Conference Council on Ministries (CCOM), asked CF&A to study and adopt an electronic funds transfer system between the conference and local churches.

"Churches would consent to our drafting on their accounts on a specific date for a specific amount and a specific reason," Walker said. "It would solve the conference’s cash-flow problems…and help with turnover in church personnel and trying to explain apportionments to new treasurers."

Casey-Rutland endorsed electronic funds transfer as a goal, saying the conference was implementing it in its transactions with districts and the general church.

Several members of the council said the system might not work for apportionments, since churches often need more flexibility in paying them. The Rev. Craig Ford, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Zephyrhills, said his church pays its apportionments over eight months and takes four months off because of its large number of winter residents. "We don’t pay the same amount each month during the whole year," he said.

The council approved authorizing the conference treasurer’s office to implement electronic funds transfer as soon as it was ready.

Acting on a resolution passed at the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event in June calling for CF&A to study the profitability of the Florida Conference Print Shop, the Rev. Glenn Mitchell, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Gainesville, studied past analyses and examined expectations for the future. In a report to CF&A, Mitchell said he agreed with studies already done by the cabinet and CCOM and supported their conclusion to either dispose of the print shop, selling its assets, or allow it to become an independent, self-supporting business.

He said the print shop has lost a total of $229,338 since its beginning.

With no budget for the print shop, Casey-Rutland said those losses are paid from conference reserves. "The CCOM and cabinet voted that the print shop be closed in this calendar year," he said. "CF&A can either include in the budget to support it [the print shop] or support the CCOM and cabinet."

Mitchell said no action was necessary by the annual conference since a review of past journals showed the annual conference had taken no "implementing action" on the print shop. "It is a business aspect of the CCOM," he said.

CF&A voted to dispose of the print shop with all due concern for the welfare of its personnel.

In other action, CF&A approved a slate of recommendations to be voted on at the special session. They include:

a 0 percent increase in district superintendents’ salaries over 2000;

setting the mileage allowance at the IRS allowable rate and the per diem at the cost charged at the Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg, as well as establishing expense reimbursement policies for people attending conference meetings;

setting the housing allowance for employees of conference institutions at the prevailing rental rate in the area in which the person is located;

basing the Fair Share formula for apportionments on pastor/associate pastor salaries, deacons and diaconal ministers’ compensation, staff compensation, and current program and operating expenses;

requiring that groups receiving funds through the conference budget submit their requests to the treasurer by June 1 if the recommendation for a special one-day budget session for the annual conference is passed;

requiring all expenditures of funds be in accordance with the Book of Discipline;

recommending the Christian Education Sunday offering be designated for the work of Christian education in the district and administered by the district council on ministries;

removing the $100,000 line item for renovation of the Barnett Lodge in 2000; and

recommending a special one-day session of the annual conference in the fall of 2001 at a location to be announced for the purpose of considering the 2002 budget.