A Letter From Fr. Paul & The Finance Council: 2017 Budget

​Dear Fellow CCOP Parishioners,
​
The Finance Council is requesting your prayers, reflection and help as we consider the 2017 Budget. We always start our meetings with an opening prayer, part of which follows -

“Lord, you have called us to be the servants of Your servants – our brother and sisters in our Parish. As we meet here as their representatives, we ask for your grace and guidance. Help us truly represent them in the financial matters of our parish and may the material aspects we discuss, not blind us to the primary work of our faith community. 

May the Holy Spirit visit us and grant us the light of divine wisdom...”

We are your representatives and want you to be aware of our financial challenge as a Parish. As you can see in the below chart, 2016 was a difficult year for the parish from a budgeting perspective due to a drop off in our collections versus our historical giving from 2015 & 2014.
​We built our original budget for 2016 and all of the expenses that go with it based off the above collections being $2,033,000 for the year or $179,000 more than what actually was collected. As the year went along, adjustments were made on the expense side from all areas of CCOP including Staff and Clergy headcount changes along with focus on operational expenses that resulted in lower than budgeted spending. Therefore, we were able to end the year very close to breakeven as originally budgeted for 2016.

Which brings us to 2017 and the challenges it represents for our Parish. Expenses we cannot control are going up significantly this year including medical insurance, workman’s comp, building insurance, utilities, and materials to name a few. 

​Therefore, just to stay where we are, we need to budget $1,925,000 of collections for 2017, or a $71,000 (+3.8%) increase over 2016 Actual. This will allow us to continue the current services CCOP can offer to the parish and community.

What does this mean and how can you help? If 500 families decided to give an additional $3 per week - 500 x $3 x 52 weeks, that would equal $78,000 for the year.

We would ask that you pray on this and consider how you can help make up some of this shortfall through your generosity.

Respectfully,
​
Fr. Paul and the Members of the Catholic Community of Pleasanton Finance Council