Annual Financial Snapshot: Stability, Growth & Goals

In this week’s bulletin we are including our end of the year financial statements. Our fiscal year runs from July 1- June 30. You will notice that the first column shows our actual revenue and expenses. The middle column is our actual revenue and expenses from the previous fiscal year (2023-24), so you can make a comparison to the prior year. The final column is the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

What appears here are abbreviated statements. The complete statements separate out the categories you see here into many sub-categories. If you wish to see a complete set of our financial statements, contact Scott Jacobi, Director of Parish Finances, in the parish office. 

For the year just completed, we ended on a positive note financially. We ended the year with a net income totaling $102,108. We had budgeted for a deficit of ($188,000). The Parish Finance Council had accepted the idea of a deficit knowing that we had some savings from previous years to help cover the deficit. Also, we do not budget for income or losses relating to our investments, except for interest income. Historically we have not budgeted for gains or losses on investments because of the volatility of the stock market. As it turned out, we were able to end the year in the black because of the success of our investments. Also, giving to the parish was higher than we budgeted and our school tuition revenue was better than expected. 

This past year we provided all our staff with a minimum of a seven to fifteen percent increase in pay, resulting in a significant increase in wages and benefits from the prior year. While many sectors of our economy had seen similar pay increases in the two years prior to this last year, we had been more conservative with our raises over the same period. We also completed some larger maintenance projects this past year, including the paving of the roads at our cemetery.

You may notice school related expenses increased this past year, but this is offset by a decrease in the category called “Other Expenses.” It is simply that we moved some categories that were previously in the latter category and moved them into the former. 

Overall, wages and benefits continue to be our largest expense at over seventy percent of our budget. Our payroll is now over $100,000 every two weeks. We are the first parish in the diocese to reach this mark. While we are able to manage this, because there is no flexibility in when we pay our employees, we are paying greater attention to managing our cash flow. This is particularly true in the summer months, such as this time of the year. Our teachers are paid based on a twelve-month schedule, but we only have tuition revenue coming in nine months of the year. 

Our balance sheet remains strong. We have one outstanding note for $150,000 with the Small Business Administration. We accepted this loan back in 2021 during Covid, as it was made available to us and the Parish Finance Council saw it as potentially helping our cash flow amid the uncertainty of that time. The Finance Council will likely support paying this off in the coming six months. Otherwise we try to keep our Accounts Payable below $100,000.

On the Asset side of the ledger, we continue to hold our investments with Edward Jones and the Catholic Extension Society. We generally look to Edward Jones to help us invest in more conservative products like Money Market Funds or Bond Funds. The Catholic Extension Society helps us invest more aggressively. Our investments are fairly evenly split between the more conservative vs. more aggressive. 

For the coming year we have – as we have done in the past – budgeted conservative increases in our revenue. We receive input from the Diocesan Finance Office for budgeting expenses. We are again projecting a deficit, this year at ($159,164). We continue to have a variety of maintenance projects that we need to stay on top of. For example, resealing the parking lot (just completed) is reflected in the current fiscal year. We also need to replace some blocks at the church, repair some window edges, and are looking at painting the outside stucco. It is hoped that with continued increases in giving and the opportunity to realize gains on our investments, we could again end the year with a slight net income. 

Regarding the long-term financial outlook for our parish, we are in the process of compiling a report that gives projections over the next five years. Our initial work shows that in each of the coming years, we will need to depend on continued increases in giving and gains on our investments to balance the budget. During this time it would also behoove us to work on encouraging people to consider end of life giving to our parish. Studies indicate that over the next two decades we will see the greatest transfer of wealth that will ever occur, as baby boomers are now in their sixties. Hopefully we can all direct at least some of our savings to our parish that has served us well during our lives on earth. 

Certainly if you have questions, contact Scott Jacobi or me. Please be assured we will respond to your questions and comments to the best of our ability. 

Father John

YEAR-END FINANCIALS INCOME & EXPENSES SPREADSHEETS HERE