From Stlucy
A Letter from Fr. Mark Regarding
the Financial Situation of Our Parish
March 2010
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This past fall, I spoke to those who attended Mass of the financial needs we are facing. I talked about our income and expenses in broad terms and asked all of us to increase our giving. A complete report should have been mailed out to all parishioners right after the talk, but this was not done. I am writing now on behalf of myself, our Trustees, our Finance Committee, our Parish Council and our Business Manager (Pat McLeod), to make sure we are all aware of our financial situation and our needs.
Like so many over the past few years, St. Lucy’s has been struggling with rising costs and falling revenues. Our Parish operates on a fiscal year that runs from July 1st to June 30th. We ended fiscal year 2008 in the red by $75,000 and fiscal year 2009 in the red by $148,000. (Financial statements: 
07-09 Balance Sheet 07-09 Operating Statements ) For the fiscal year ending this June, we estimate that our expenses will exceed our income by $127,000. Although these numbers are substantial, they are not impossible to correct. Working together as a strong parish family, we will eliminate these debts and get to a stronger financial position to secure our future.
I know this information is very difficult to hear, but it is the hard truth. Dealing with these issues has not been the priority it should have been, and I have changed that. I have appointed an active Finance Committee that consists of parish members with strong financial and business backgrounds. I also hired Pat McLeod as our Business Manager. Pat and the committee are working together to reduce expenses. A few so far are:
1) Selected a new health insurance provider for an annual savings of $36,000.
2) Reducing natural gas and electricity usage.
3) Reducing expenses for maintenance items such as mats, chemicals and paper products.
4) Reducing expenses for telephone, postage and other annual service contracts.
Our Parish leadership will continue looking for ways to reduce expenses, while at the same time seeking out new fund raising opportunities to aid in covering our expenses. However, there is no getting around the fact that our main source of revenue is from our weekly collections. Simply put, we need to increase contributions going forward if we are going to survive as a strong Parish with an exceptional school. I pledge to provide you with timely and accurate financial updates from this point on. In addition, we will talk about our 2010/11 budget later this spring, detailing contribution levels needed to stay on track financially. For now, we need to focus on getting out of the hole in which we find ourselves. We will only stay a strong Parish Family if we are all involved - Our Future Depends On All of Us!!
Working with our Parish leadership, I developed a plan that is designed to help us get back on track - hence the title - our “BACK ON TRACK INITIATIVE”. The details are on the next page. As you can see, it is an aggressive program designed to eliminate our combined shortages by the end of 2010 at the latest. Please read it over carefully and reflect on it.
St. Lucy’s BACK ON TRACK Initiative
609 families did NOT contribute (33%)
642 families gave between $1 - $519
339 families gave between $520 - $1,000
230 families gave in excess of $1,000
I am asking each of you to reflect on the situation at hand and pray about it. Take some time, and decide what you can do to help alleviate our shared financial problems.
Our current shortfall is $350,000, which comes out to $292 for each contributing family. However, I recognize that it took time to get into this situation, and I know it will take some time to fix it. Every family will be receiving a package of 15 Back on Track envelopes in the mail.
If you can help us get Back on Track by the end of this fiscal year (June 30th), please use the envelopes to give $19.00 per week over and above your regular contribution for the 15 weeks between March 21st and June 27th.
If you need more time and can help us get Back on Track by the end of 2010, please use the envelopes to give $7.00 per week over and above your regular contribution between March 21st and December26th. We will be tracking our progress and sending out more envelopes at the end of June to those who need them.
I know some of you are already doing all that you can afford and we all appreciate it. Some of you may be blessed enough to contribute more than your share and possibly do it in the short run. If so, this would be a tremendous help. Together, we will get Back on Track.
It will take all of us, working together as a parish family, to get through this. I am asking everyone to commit to getting Back on Track and follow through on those commitments with your contributions. We will only be as strong as our sharing of our time, talents, and treasure.
Sincerely In Christ,
Fr. Mark Jones
Pastor