General Assembly Council considers revised budget formula By Paula R. Kincaid The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 2 Posted March 26, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The General Assembly Council is considering a revised budget formula that will allow controversial, low-priority programs to stay alive by attaching themselves to popular ministries. The formula will give each of its three divisions – Congregational, National and Worldwide – some leeway in determining how much each will spend in their program areas. The formula is an attempt to soften the blow of a prioritization process the council used during its September meeting. Council members set high, medium and low rankings for each program area based on evangelism and discipleship – two emphases that the General Assembly established as priorities for the denomination. Some of the more controversial programs – such as the Washington Office and Church & Society – received low rankings, and advocates for them strongly have criticized the prioritization plan. During its February meeting, John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, told the council’s executive committee that the impact of the process has prompted the low-ranking program areas to form partnerships with high-ranking areas. The budget proposal pools $599,805 for such partnership work in high-impact program areas. One-percent sharing plan “Is that an appropriate impact? No, but it is a good start,” Detterick said. He said the partnerships did not extend to all of the high-impact areas, so he has proposed a one-percent plan. Under Detterick’s proposal, the budget of every program and support area will be cut by one percent of unified dollars, while support areas will be reduced an additional 1/2 percent. That money will be placed into a pool and given back to the three divisions, where it will be redistributed to the program areas. Following the money The total impact of the one-percent plan on the budget is $275,536. Of that amount, $55,107 will go to the Congregational Ministries Division, $129,502 to the National Ministries Division and $90,927 to the Worldwide Ministries Division. Each division area is “strongly encouraged” to divert that money to the programs ranked as high impact. The total impact of the prioritization process on the 2002 proposed budget is $865,340. And that, Detterick said, “is a reasonable impact on the budget.” Don Campbell, director of the Congregational Ministries Division, gave an example of the partnerships being formed across division and program area lines. The peacemaking program and national volunteer offices, both ranked as low priorities, have planned opportunities for youths. The Christian Education program, which also has youth programs, was ranked as a high-impact program area. The three have formed a partnership and are working together on youth programs.

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