In fine print at the bottom of page 1 of the Diocese of Colorado proposed budget for 2008 is this interesting caveat:
This budget includes only normal legal expenses and no provision for extraordinary investigations and litigation. The Diocese expects that
there will be additional, significant amounts to be approved by the Standing Committee for such expenses in 2008.
Inquiring minds would just love to have a ball park figure. Oh well.
You asked for ball park figure? It’s into seven figures now. Kobe’s lawyers don’t come cheap.
I find the 2006 deficit strange. I recall last year it was listed as around $60,000. Now, it is $150,000. Does this reflect some of the legal costs? Is the 2007 deficit figure going to be going up. When will we know about that? A year from now? The costs for Rob’s war began in earnest in 2007.
One has to appreciate the magical proposed deficit of 2008. Wave a wand and it is projected to be zero! One of Rob O’Neil’s sources of comfort in terms of growth and budget was Holy Comforter, Broomfield. It’s stats can be found [url=http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_105200782817AM.pdf]here[/url]. It nicely reflects the principal that giving goes up when a church is in dire straits as [url=http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/6520/ ]pointed out by Father Matt Kennedy[/url] over at Stand Firm. Now that source of revenue has become a source of deficit. Is this taken into account in the budgetary magic?
…I thought the one of the main charges in the Grace and St. Stephen’s issue was poor and non-transparent accounting.
robroy–The feat of a zero deficit for 2008 was accomplished in part by the presumption of almost $100,000 in rental income. This seems odd because the Diocese netted no rental income in 2006 and rental income was not included in the 2007 budget. Do you know what is the presumed source of almost $100,000 in rental income? Abandoned parishes?
In other words – “Move along folks” “nothing to be alarmed about right now….we can’t fight multiple fires at once”…
At a clergy clericus less than a month ago Bishop Rob O’Neill said that he would not devulge how much has been spent on extraordinary legal expenses and where it was coming from. That information would be contained in a report for 2007 expenses that is due out after the year concludes. Information is being very closely guarded by the Diocese. It is curious that the Diocese has been so diligent in examinaing expenses of Fr. Don Armstrong and Grace Church, demanding transparency and completeness–and does not do so itself. It has been several months since sources in the Diocese indicated that extraordinary legal expenses so far have exceeded $800,000 and could top $1,250,000. Indications also are that the money is not coming from Diocese of Colorado sources.
If we who are orthodox don’t clean our own houses, God will find someone else to do it. I hope Canon Harmon will get a fuller picture when he addresses CLC next month.
Robroy, I don’t think Holy comforter was that much comfort to +O’Neill; I kept the September/October “Colorado Episcopalian because it has a complete record of contributions to the diocese for all parishes for 2005 and to date contributions for 2006. In 2005 HC contributed 1.4% of its pledge & plate income and the pledge for 2006 was 1.7% of expected income. I don’t know if that issue is still available on line, but if it is, suggest you download pages 10 & 11 and keep it for handy reference. VERY interesting.
Frances
If I am not mistaken, the building that housed St. Francis, Colorado Springs may be the source of income. Perhaps also Holy Spirit, C.S. ? Frances
7. should read “rental income”. Frances
Thanks, Frances. The Colorado Episcopalian is indeed still available [url=http://www.coloradodiocese.org/06_newsandevents/PDFs/epis_sept_oct_06.pdf ]here[/url]. Holy Comforter gave about $6-8000. Still, the diocese is now picking up the mortgage for the property. As you say the table of parish contributions is an interesting read. The big givers are:
The winner is the Cathedral of St. John’s that gave 14% of a $1.4 million budget. Their [url=http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_105200772851PM.pdf]numbers[/url] are trending down, albeit slowly. A distant second is St John’s Boulder which gave 6.5% of a $700,000 income. Their [url=http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_105200773228PM.pdf ]numbers[/url] are trending up. The wide variations of percentages was interesting.
I hope that the churches dig deep to achieve next year’s balanced budget. Kobe’s lawyers don’t come cheap. Oh, never mind. That’s not reflected in the budget.
The stats for 1996-2006 are now available. It appears that Colorado did a proper job of removing membership numbers for closed parishes such as Holy Spirit and St. Francis. But the membership losses at Grace (Colorado Springs), Holy Comforter (Broomfield), and St. Andrew (Fort Collins) could sum to well over 2,000 and will not appear until 2007 ends. Statmann
Since Don Armstrong has been such a critic of Bp. Jon Bruno, who wants to be PB someday, one might examine the L.A. Diocese legal expenses ledger.