Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Building Relationships with People in Christ
December 18, 2017 - Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda -.None

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session –
o          The Finance Committee recommends that committees be asked to review their 2018 requested budget amounts to see if there are any cuts that can be made. (see 4, below)
o          Confirmation of approval of Policy for Payment of Church Credit Card Expenses (see 6, below)
o          Fund raising requests (see 8, below)
o          Designating previously non-designated memorial funds to be used for future AV repair/maintenance ( see 11, below)

Items for information only -see below

Members present:  Don Pine, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Linda Schumacher, Don Young and Paul Luce (via speaker phone)
Also present:  Pastor Pat
Members absent: Barry Holmes & Ed Ingram


Sandy Moore opened with a prayer.


1.  Financial Secretary Report
o     Boxes of 12 offering envelopes for 2018 have been in the parlor available for pick up since 12/10.
o     Congregation has been notified in weekly email and bulletin for the last 2 weeks that any contributions to BRPC received after 12/24 will be credited to 2018.
o     Statements of 2017 giving to BRPC will be distributed after worship on January 7 and January 14.  Any remaining after that will be mailed.
o     Special offering envelopes (per capita, one great hour, etc.) will be distributed on January 21, 2018.

2.  January Newsletter article from Finance Committee
o    Sandy has brought to the congregation’s attention that expected income was $7000 short but expected expenses were very close to budgeted amounts in 2017 and stressed the importance of everyone's continued contributions to support BRPC.  Pastor Pat will review and make any edits he deems fit.

3.  Treasurer Report – see report in Drop Box
o       Paul reviewed the reports with the committee.
o       Discussion was held about our current low bank balance.  Sandy will check with Sharon tomorrow and find out the amount needed to pay bills this year.  If more funds will be needed after taking into account the ACH amount to be deposited on 12/22 and expected offering on 12/24, action will be taken to transfer funds from the CD to the checking account at Blue Ridge Bank.

4.  2018 Budget
o One additional pledge was received today but the amount was already included in non-pledged income. And, there another $20 to be added.  Paul will make the adjustment to the budget and email the revised version for session meeting.
o There was concern about having a budget that requires $23,000+ be withdrawn from savings to balance it.  It was suggested that the session consider asking committee chairs to take another look at their budget requests and see if there are any reductions that can be made. A few specific ideas were discussed and will be pursued.

5.  Power on – photocopier service contract
o       With our current financial circumstances, it was the consensus of the committee that we continue to pay this bill monthly rather than annually.
o        
6.  Policy for Payment of Church Credit Card Expenses
o   We were told that the Session discussed our proposed policy at their November meeting.  The policy as proposed in our November minutes is as follows:
§  Purchases made on church credit card are for church expenses only.  No personal charges should be put on the church credit card.
§  A properly completed Expense voucher is required for all expenditures made on a BRPC credit card.  i.e. the voucher MUST  include:  amount to be paid, information for who it is to be paid to, the account from which the amount is be taken, and a signature of the person authorized to have funds taken from that account
§  Failure to comply with these requirements will result in a warning.   If someone violates this policy a second time, the Finance Committee will revoke their authorization to use any BRPC credit card.
§  The Office Manager is authorized and instructed to pay the BRPC credit card bills in a timely manner
§  Any amount for which she does not have a properly filled out voucher prior to paying the credit card bill will be posted to account number 54098 (Administration - Miscellaneous).
§  The Office Manager will notify the Moderator of the Finance Committee of any payments/postings which have been handled in this manner
§  The Moderator of the Finance Committee will have a member of the Finance Committee follow-up with the Moderator of the Committee to whom this charge applies and obtain a properly completed voucher for the applicable amount.
§  The Finance Committee member who is handing this will fill out an "Adjusting Entry" form and email it to Paul to have the money moved from account number #54098 to the correct account number.
§  If this is the first time this has happened with the person who made the charge, the Finance Committee will give them a reminder of the policy and a warning that a second offense will result in the loss of their privilege to use the church credit card.
§  If it is the second time this person has failed to follow this policy, action will be taken to remove that person's authority to use any BRPC credit card (s)
o        The Finance Committee needs confirmation of whether or not this policy was approved.

7.  Finance portion of Manual of Operations
o        Discussion tabled again.  We will discuss this directly after the Treasurer’s Report at our January meeting.
o        Linda also distributed copies of a revision of the Finance Secretary’s job description that the Finance Committee approved in February 2016. It had not been put in the current Manual Operations but it should be.
o        The draft with Linda’s questions and suggestions as well as the updated Finance Secretary’s job description have been placed in the Finance folder in


8.  Fund raising requests from Missions and Outreach
o        Care packages to BRPC college students for Valentine’s Day - Finance Com. recommends approval
o        Popcorn sales 3/18 with delivery 4/8 - approved pending coordination of dates with Youth Director since the Finance Committee had suggested there be another pie sale before Easter when shortening the time to sell pies in November.
o        Pancake Breakfast and Bake Sale to benefit REAP on 3/24. - Finance Com. recommends approval.
Don P. made the motion and Don Young seconded. Motion carried as shown above

10.  Stewardship
o   Pastor Pat asked that Finance Committee members bring their ideas for the 2018 Stewardship theme to our January meeting.

11.   AV repair and maintenance
o  We had a significant expense last week to fix the problem with our projector in the sanctuary. This expense has been paid for by a generous donor.  But, further expenses could arise and there is nothing in the budget.
o  The Finance Committee recommends that we designate Al Mitchell and Elena Schesser’s memorial for future AV repair or maintenance.
Don Y made the motion and Don Pine seconded – motion - approved


Next meeting January 8, 2017 - 6:30 p.m.  (Bill to do opening prayer/devotion)




Don Pine closed the meeting with a prayer.




Respectfully submitted,
Linda Schumacher