January 2012

This is the last of my (David Spanagel's) blog posting of Prudential Committee news, since my term as Moderator is coming to its natural end.

I am pleased to report that in this month's meeting, the 2012 budget was finalized for presentation to the Parish at it annual meeting, and although the pledges for 2012 came down by a disconcerting $25,000, we have still managed to cobble together a budget that affords the strategic program cost increases we embarked upon when we hired a new Director of Faith Development Ministries and a part time Youth Coordinator.

We have also acted to boost the compensation of our excellent Music Director by a substantial amount; this man has endured a pay cut in 2009, cumulative increases in his share of the health insurance cost responsibilities in 2010 and 2011, but no base salary increase at any time during the past four years.

The one other area of budget growth was targeted at investing a portion of our institutional income into a building reserve fund.

Another exciting action taken at this month's Prudential Committee meeting was the approval of a title for our volunteer staff member, Jerry Bellows. He now has the honorable status: Assistant Music Director at First Unitarian Church.