Pastor’s Desk ~ September 29, 2024

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

This week we release the annual finance report for SV Parish for Fiscal Year 2023-24.
I want to thank you for your generous contributions this past year. This is very much appreciated, as our parish is entirely dependent on your support for our operations.

Budgets and financial reports are not self-interpreting, but require explanation and context to be understood. This past fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, ended with a positive balance of $98,130. This was totally due to two large one-time contributions to our Maintenance Account, totaling over $200,000. These two contributions, while most welcome, are both restricted to maintenance costs, and (most likely) likely non-recurring. While proceeds from our monthly Maintenance Fund have been gradually rising, they do not nearly cover the total cost of maintenance, materials and labor for work normally done within a particular year. Maintenance is done on a “need-to-do”, not a “nice to do”, basis.

Our Budget forecast for July 2024-June 2025 projects a loss of approximately $156,000. We have limited reserves, but if this continues for long, we will be out of money. This is because, while expenses continue to rise, our parish income has been flat for several years. When I arrived at SV over 7 years ago, I said that I would reduce parish expenses before I asked for money and– except for one appeal during the depths of COVID– I have kept that promise. This is because our core mission is to build up the Body of Christ, educate the young, minister to the sick, bury the dead, and to provide daily and reverent worship by the People of God.

The hard reality of parish finance is that the vast majority of our expenses come from four or five categories over which we have very limited control: salaries, liability insurance, medical benefits, and utilities. All have risen far faster than both the rate of inflation and parish income. This is a national phenomenon we must deal with.

In California for 2024, the minimum wage for exempt employees under California law was/is $66,560. When you add diocesan benefits, it’s now well over $75,000. In June, we were hit with an 18% increase in liability insurance. Utilities are going up, as you too well know.

This is intended as an introduction to our annual financial report, and as an indicator of where we are and what we must do. In my view, I am facing my greatest administrative  challenge in my nearly 40 years as a priest. Please review our parish finance report, and refer any questions you may have to me or to a member of the Parish Finance Committee.

As always, I am most grateful for your support of our parish, and hope to rely upon it in the future.

Fr. Bill Donahue