by Alan Hill, Chair, Board of Business
On October 5, we will ask the congregation to adopt our challenge budget for 2026. This is our aspirational budget to fund church operations and programs for the coming year. It sets our enlistment or member pledge goal for 2026.
There are several objectives in this budget:
- Fund a search for a settled minister
- Right size our staff to support the ministers and programs of the church.
- Continue to replenish the capital reserves for current and future repairs and replacements.
Rev. Donna Schaper’s contract as our interim/transition minister ends on October 30, 2026. We have included a full 12 months of salary and benefits for this second minister position to provide for a settled minister being called by the time her contract concludes.
The challenge budget also includes $7,500 for the ministerial search to be used for advertising and potential travel expenses to bring a candidate to Gainesville.
In the past 12 months we have learned that we have asked too much of our administrative staff. Job descriptions were too large. Volunteer involvement has decreased with staff having to do more. The Board of Human Resources working with Rev. Schaper, Dar Mikula, and staff have re-written job descriptions for existing positions and proposed the addition of an Office Administrator as a permanent position. Dar, among other duties, has been functioning as such in a part-time capacity this year.
To further support staff and the ministers, Tami Herchel, Director of Programming and Development, has proposed creating a UCG youth work training program. This experimental program would offer personal and professional skill-building, experiential learning, and opportunities for service for our high school youth group members. Paid part-time, youth would be assigned to each minister and full-time staff member. Money from a Ford Foundation gift will be used to partially fund this proposal.
On top of these proposed additions to staff, the group health insurance plan for staff had a 12.4% rate increase effective in September 2025. The new full-time Office Administrator position would also be eligible for health insurance benefits.
Funds have been included for a 3% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase for all non-minimum wage employees. Minimum wage increased to $14/hour on October 1 and will increase to $15/hour on October 1, 2026.
The net effect of all these changes is a 10.9% increase in personnel expenses for 2026 over the projected total personnel expenses for 2025.
Total non-personnel expenses for 2026 are expected to be about the same as the projected actual total in 2025. This is possible because our first mortgage with PNC bank will be paid off in February 2026. Because of this and other factors, expenses for space are expected to be about $31,000 less in 2026.
Operating expenses are expected to be about $14,000 higher next year. The biggest jump here is an increase in the allowance for business expenses for Rev. Schaper. She has agreed to receive less in salary in exchange for a higher expense account. Other components of operating expenses are increased to cover inflationary trends. The Board of Business will actively work on finding more reasonable business insurance coverage during the coming year.
Existing contributions to programs from the general budget will generally remain flat for 2026. The $7,500 budget for a ministerial search is part of the programming budget.
The Board of Business proposes that we increase the general budget contribution to the capital reserves from $15,000 in 2025 to $30,000 in 2026. This is about 3% of the total budget.
The total expense budget for 2026 is 7.3% higher than the expected total expenditures for 2025.
Revenue in 2026 includes the use of part of a matching gift from the Ford Foundation. With the reduction in rates by the Federal Reserve, we expect to earn less interest on our cash reserves. Plate collections, rental and parking income are expected to be flat.
To fully fund this challenge budget totaling $1,018,287, we will need a 7% increase in pledge income.
To put this in perspective, the 2023 total budget was $966,677, the 2024 budget total $956,791, and the 2025 budget total is $955,816. There has been little change in our adopted total budget for the past 3 years. However, since the end of 2022, the consumer price index has risen 10.1%.
I am aware that many of you have increased your pledges over time, and we are grateful for that. It seems like we have been in transition for a long time. Now is the time to move forward. Much work has been done in the past year(s) and we are ready to turn the corner into our future.
I hope that the congregation will vote to adopt this challenge budget at our congregational meeting. I further hope that you all will vote with your pledges to support our church and the good work that we do together for our community and the world in which we live.