A message from the Senior Warden, Doug Davy
St. Michael’s is part of the head, hands, and feet of the Body of Christ, and our stellar staff are the head, hands and feet of St. Michael’s. Our Clergy and Staff make things happen; planning, developing, and guiding all of our programs and for this reason, a little more than 50 percent of your pledge goes to salaries and benefits for our Rector, Associate Priest, Music Director, Parish Administrator, Sexton, Video Technician, and Nursery Caregiver. Our Staff deserve a pleasant workplace and efficient tools and we need facilities in which we can meet in worship and fellowship. Buildings and grounds/upkeep expenses for the Sanctuary, Office and Class/meeting rooms, Johnstone Hall and Parish Hall, the courtyard and grounds, make up an additional 18 percent of the budget, more than half of which is for utilities like electricity, gas, and water. General office expenses are another 9 percent (phone and computer expenses, postage, photocopies, advertising, and our accounting consultant). Our support to the Diocese of Northern California and National Episcopal Church and their many programs and parish support services comes to 14 percent. Finally, about 6 percent of our budget goes to standard program, outreach, and special event expenses. These funds cover worship costs (altar guild and choir), and support for stewardship and fund-raising programs and events.
Each year, our Rector and Treasurer, carefully go over our actual costs from the current year and create a new year’s budget in accordance with our practices, needs, plans, and programs, for Vestry review and approval in December. The next year’s budget is presented to the Parish at the Annual Meeting in January. Thank you for your essential investment in the important work that we do at St. Michael’s.