Well, friends, one report I read of the April 9 PYM Interim Meeting session o n the new budget, which cuts 25% of the staff to close a million-dollar deficit, was that all was sweetness and light and serene acceptance.
More recent reports give a different view. “Left reeling in shock,” is another reaction. No doubt individual responses varied. But two items have surfaced to suggest that the waters are troubled. One is a memo from General Secretary Arthur Larrabee, announcing that he is taking a voluntary 5% salary cut, effective immediately. (Text below.)
The other is a several-page memo of searching, detailed questions, addressed to the Finance Committee, about the proposed budget. The memo is unsigned, butI am advised that the author is a former staff person who knows the budget and the money stuff intimately; a wonk, as it were.
<< Subj: Volunteering A Salary Cut
PYM Staff
Colleagues-
Over the period of time we have been wrestling with PYM’s FY 2012 budget, I have given a lot of thought to what I might do, personally, in response to the situation. This morning I had a helpful conversation with a friend; by this afternoon my thinking had crystalized.
In light of PYM’s current financial situation, I will be volunteering a 5% reduction in my salary, effective immediately. Tomorrow, I will ask the accounting office to implement this request.
I volunteer to do this wanting to signal my sense that we’re all in this together, me included, and this feels like something I can do. It has a spiritual quality for me, one
of reaching out to be in relationship with the situation, with staff and with the Yearly Meeting.
I am not asking or expecting anyone else to volunteer a salary cut. If such a request were to be made, it would be for the Personnel Services Group to discern.
Thanks for being colleagues with me in a not easy time.
Blessings.
Arthur
Quakerism: Simple Faith, Radical Witness
Arthur M. Larrabee >>
The other, perhaps more portentous, is an anonymous memo with a long list of searching, detailed questions about the proposed budget and the supporting information presented with it at the April 9 session.
I am advised that the author of these queries is a former longtime staff person who knows the numbers and the finances inside and out; a wonk, in common parlance. I’m unable to verify that claim,but the document gives that impression.
It’s unclear how widely the queries have circulated, so perhaps they could use a boost. Hence we will insert them below, in full.
If you, dear Reader, are far from Philadelphia, much of this may seem like so much Greek. But on the other hand, it offers a rare glimpse to outsiders of the wheels turning in that behemoth of Quaker bodies.
Here is the Query Memo:
<< Questions for Financial Stewardship
General Questions
1- There are three newly created positions in the proposed budget: Director of Meeting Relations, Director of Communications, and Volunteer Coordinator. The positions that are being removed or reduced include: Young Friends Coordinator, Young Adult Friends Coordinator; Eco-Justice Coordinator; Interpretation and Volunteer Coordinator; Director of Burlington Conference Center. It seems that those positions being eliminated are direct service positions and the newly created positions are administrative. Is this change in focus a decision for the General Secretary or a decision that should come before Yearly Meeting? What is the total salary difference between the new positions and the direct service positions being eliminated?
2- According to the slides, the Yearly Meeting has seen deficits in the General Fund for the last four years. During that time, how much money has been spent by the Yearly Meeting on renovations at Friends Center ; renovations at Arch Street; furniture and furnishings at Friends Center, Arch Street and Burlington?
a. How much has the Yearly Meeting spent on renovations at Friends Center that are not part of the shared cost? How much of this was due to design changes?
b. How much did the Yearly Meeting spend over the past four years on renovating the Library that is now being closed?
3- At Interim Meeting, it was said that the projected deficit for FY 2011 is three times the anticipated deficit. When was this mounting deficit noticed? If this deficit is three times the budgeted amount, why have new employees been hired? Why weren’t the renovations at Arch Street postponed? Why has new furniture been purchased? Why haven’t expenses been reduced to match income received?
4- Where is the Capital Reserve money in this budget? How much has been used since 2010 and for what purposes in which buildings? How much is budgeted to be used in each building in the proposed budget?
Salary and Benefit Questions
1- From 2005 to the amount in the proposed budget for 2012, what percentage increase has occurred in the salary of the General Secretary? What is the dollar amount of this increase?
2- From 2005 to the amount in the proposed budget for 2012 what percentage increase has occurred in the salary for the lowest paid staff person at the Yearly Meeting? What is the dollar amount of this increase?
3- In 2011, what was the percentage difference between the lowest paid staff person and the highest paid staff person?
4- In 2005, how many employees were paid under $50,000? How many were paid between $50,000 and $75,000? How many were paid over $75,000? For part-time staff calculate their full time salary and then indicate how many are part-time in each range.
5- In 2011, how many employees are paid under $50,000? How many are paid $50,000-$75,000? How many are paid over $75,000? For part-time staff calculate their full time salary and then indicate how many are part-time in each range.
6- How much severance has been paid to laid off employees since 2007? How much was paid from 2003 – 2006?
7- How much severance will be paid to laid off employees in this proposed budget?
8- Indicate the number of staff at each of the following levels in 2005 and 2011
2005
2011
Admin. Assist/Maint
Program staff/accountants
Coordinators
Directors/Assoc Sec/Gen Sec
9- Since 2007, how many employees have left the Yearly Meeting and how many staff have been hired?
10- Is it not true that the payments to the pension system are based on the salaries paid? If that is true and salary levels have increased greater than the rates of inflation since 2005, then wouldn’t the pension payments be increasing higher than the rate of inflation? If salary levels were contained would that not lower the pension payments?
11- If PYM did not have a defined benefit retirement plan, would it have (like most employers) a defined contribution retirement plan? Wouldn’t it be a fairer comparison to compare the cost of the pension plan with the cost of a defined contribution plan? If the Yearly Meeting had a defined contribution retirement plan of up to 5% of salary what would have been the cost of that plan over the past ten years?
12- In analyzing the cost of the pension plan, isn’t it fairer to average the last 20 years of pension contribution which would include the years in which no contribution was made and then compare that to a defined contribution plan over the same 20 years?
13- It would be helpful to know the range of payments to PYM pensioners. Is the problem that the pension plan is overly generous to the recipients or could it be that the fund’s management needs reviewing?
14- It was mentioned during the presentation that cost of living increases in the pension payments have caused increasing costs to PYM. When was the last cost of living increase provided to PYM pensioners? What date was the cost of living increase before the last increase?
Expense Questions
1- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under Interim,
1. What programs is Interim supporting with its $444,150 of General Fund money?
2. Which staff are included under the Interim Staff salary line of $330,050?
3. When staff is being reduced by 25% why is Interim giving grants to others of $38,500?
2- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under the Education
Standing Committee,
1. The Grants to Others is $330,221 which seems to include all but $60,000 from the prior year net assets, designated and restricted fund income. Has the Education Standing Committee considered using the $60,000 from the restricted funds to fund some of the Young Adult Friends position and/or the Young Friends Position? Where is this money in the proposed budget? What does it fund?
2. Does the $83,570 in event income reflect income from the Young Friends events? Wouldn’t the elimination of the staff person for Young Friends reduce the expected income from events? Has it been reduced since the staff person for the Young Friends is being eliminated?
3. Since the Library is closing, has the Education Standing Committee considered how the Francis Ferris income is going to be used in 2012?
3- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under General Services,
1. There is $5,000 in depreciation. This used to represent a transfer from the Burlington Conference Center to the Capital Reserve. If the Burlington Conference Center is closed, why would this transfer be in the budget?
2. There is $26,000 in repairs and maintenance and $16,000 in utilities. If this is for the Burlington Conference Center, utilities might need to be paid but why would $26,000 be needed for maintenance for a closed building? If it is not for the Burlington Conference Center, then what is it for?
3. Under this budget, the Burlington Conference Center will be closed. Has the restricted fund income which reverts to the Burlington Quarter when this happens been removed from the restricted fund income?
4. What is included in Contracted Services under General Services?
4- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under Peace and Concerns Standing Committee,
1. Where is the unspent income from the Warren Fund?
2. Where is the restricted fund “Peace Committee Fund”?
3. There is $29,854 in restricted fund income and $21,150 in grants to others. Did Peace and Concerns Standing Committee minute the use of the $8,000 not being given to grants to others? If not, could they not minute that money be used along with the Fund for Suffering , Peace Committee Funds and unspent Warren funds to maintain the War Tax Resistance support by the Yearly Meeting until Yearly Meeting could meet in session to review that position?
4. Could Peace and Concerns Standing Committee decide to use some of the $10,000 budgeted for events to continue support of the war tax resistance stance of the Yearly Meeting?
5- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under Support and Outreach,
1. Where are the funds coming from for grants to others? There is only $50,542 total when the designated fund income, restricted fund income and prior year net assets are added together. Is the additional $4,000 coming from the General Fund?
2. Is the $35,150 in copying and printing under Support and Outreach for Quarterly Newsletters? If so, should this be reduced if the Quarter Coordinators are reduced?
3. Why is the “rent” which is the cost of housing staff at Friends Center $48,000 when none of the Quarter Coordinators are housed at Friends Center? How many staff does this $48,000 represent?
6- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under Worship and Care,
1. There is $49,050 in prior year net assets and $670,464 in restricted fund income which seems to be covering the $634,511 in grants to others. What is the additional $80,000 being used for?
2. There is $176,000 budgeted for contracted services. Are any of the independent contractors in this budget line expected to receive more than $20,000 during the year?
7- On the page showing the Standing Committee income and expenses, under Arch Street,
1. If the Interpretation position is being eliminated, shouldn’t the gifts of support also be reduced?
2. If the Director of Arch Street has to be both the Director and the Interpreter, shouldn’t the fee income be reduced?
3. What event is being planned for Arch Street for $13,700 with reduced staffing?
4. Why is Interim Meeting receiving $20,000 in travel for its employees? Where are those employees going?
8- “Rent”, as was described during Interim Meeting, is based on the square footage used by PYM at Friends Center. In 2005, what was the square footage occupied by PYM? In 2011, what was the square footage for PYM? Isn’t it true that the current General Secretary increased the square footage of PYM during the renovations and took over the space initially allocated to Friends Fiduciary causing them to leave Friends Center? Shouldn’t reducing the square footage reduce the “rent” at Friends Center? Didn’t AFSC reduce its square footage at Friends Center to reduce its costs?
9- On the page that compares the budget to prior year costs,
1. Contracted Services is $445,430 yet on the Standing Committee page contracted services is $405,430.
i. Why would these numbers be different?
ii. Are there individuals receiving more than $20,000 a year as independent contractors? If so, would it make more sense to reduce this expense instead of laying off staff?
2. Computer and Office Support is $36,400 yet on the Standing Committee page Office Supplies are $12,700; Office Support is $15,200 and Computer Support is $48,500. Shouldn’t these numbers be the same on both pages?
3. Employee travel and training is increased by almost $10,000 or 17% to $65,200. Since the notes to the budget indicate that professional training for employees has been eliminated, this increase would indicate even greater travel expenses than 17%. Is this justifiable when staff is being decreased by 25%?
4. Under Miscellaneous there is a budgeted amount of $4,950 and on the Standing Committee page this amount is for Memberships and subscriptions ($2,000 of this is for Interim Meeting – perhaps this could be reviewed when 25% of the staff is being laid off? )
Income Questions
1. On the Standing Committee page, the total for designated fund income is $113,315 whereas on the page that compares the budget with prior year income the designated fund income is $547,915. Is this difference because some designated fund income is included in the General Fund income on the Standing Committee page? If so, could this amount be broken out on the General Fund income estimates page?
2. On the page with the Standing Committee budgets, there is a total of $8,000 in Departmental Transfers but on the page that compares the budget with prior years the transfers are $3,659. Why are these two numbers different?
3. If one adds up the fee income on the Standing Committee page, the total is $479,120 compared to $722,720 on the page that compares the budget with prior years. If one adds the administrative fee of $261,000 which is part of the General Fund income on the Standing Committee page to the $479,120, the total fee income is $740,120 which does not equal the $722,720 on the page that compares the budget with prior years. Why? What accounts for the difference?
4. On the Standing Committee page, the total for restricted fund income is $964,697 yet on the page that compares the budget with prior years the total for restricted fund income is $979,697. Is there restricted fund income being used for the General Fund or is this the restricted bequest indicated on the Standing Committee page?
5. On the page that compares the budget with prior years the actual investment income in 2010 was $378,228, the budgeted amount for 2012 is $285,000 a decrease of $93,228 or 25%. Yet the difference between the budgeted amount for the designated fund income in 2012 and the actual in 2010 is a decrease of 6% or $33,489 and the difference between the budgeted amounts for the restricted fund income from the actual in 2010 is 7% or $76,695. Why are the funds included in investment income decreasing at a greater rate than the designated or restricted funds? Aren’t the majority of all of these funds held at Friends Fiduciary? Is this difference in income due to the spending of principle? If so, was this spending authorized by Yearly Meeting in session? Could the amounts and names of the funds whose corpus has been eliminated be provided?
6. Event and Service fees on the page that compares the budget with prior years have been reduced by 14% from the actual amount received in 2010. What causes this reduction? Is it a reduction in event fees or service fees?
7. In the FY 2012 budget, there is a restricted bequest of $15,000 under Worship and Care. Is this a restricted bequest from someone who has already passed away or from someone who is expected to pass away? Is it included in income because the Yearly Meeting expects to receive it in 2012? What will happen if it does not come to the Yearly Meeting in 2012?
Prior Year Net Assets
1- At Interim Meeting, we were told that the amount of prior year income for each of the Standing Committees shown in the FY 2012 budget documents not include income from FY 2011; that the amounts listed were the unspent income from FY 2010. If this is true, then as of 6/30/2010, the Standing Committee’s unspent restricted funds were:
a. Education SC – $164,147
b. General Services – $50,000
c. Peace & Concerns – 0
d. Support & Outreach – $30,000
e. Worship and Care – $49,050
f. Arch Street – 0
g. Interim Meeting- $10,000
2- If one compares the net assets carried forward for each of these Standing Committees on 6/30/2010, are these numbers the same as the amounts in the budget?
a. For ESC, what does the $164,147 include? Which funds are included? Does it include Jeanes, Partenheimer, Townsend, Sergei Thomas and Haley Yarmark, all the tuition aid funds, the teacher’s retirement fund? How much from each fund?
b. For General Services does the $50,000 include unspent funds from the Burlington Conference Center; Pemberton; Charleston; Meeting House Trust funds? Does it include unspent Capital Reserve funds budgeted for Burlington? If so, how much from each?
c. For Peace and Concerns, does $0 include Warren, Fairhill Friends Ministry, Peace Committee Funds, International Outreach and the Indian Committee?
d. For Support and Outreach does $30,000 include all of the Willits money that is carried forward?
e. For Worship and Care, does the $49,050 include School of the Spirit funds, Aging Granting Group funds, Greenleaf funds, Natalie Clifford Barney? If so, how much from each of those funds?
f. For Arch Street, does $0 include unspent but budgeted capital reserve funds?
3- If the budgeted amounts in Prior Year Net Assets do not equal the net assets carried forward for these funds as of 6/30/2010 and they do not represent estimates of what will be carried forward into FY 2012, where do these numbers come from? >>