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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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June 2006 |
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Crunching the numbers!There are many approaches to finding funds to provide the large variety of services offered by parishes in the Diocese. Noel Bowditch examines some current practices. The support offered to parishes by being part of a diocese is one of the great benefits of being an Anglican, but the necessary funding has to be found to provide these services. As we look around the Australian church there are a number of different approaches raising these funds: • One Australian diocese is wealthy enough not to require a contribution from parishes. • Some dioceses have a voluntary contribution (with a little encouragement if it is thought that a parish is not giving enough!). • A few levy parishes on the basis of the number of nominal Anglicans living within their boundaries. • Like we do in Tasmania, most dioceses levy parishes on the basis of their income, with varying allowable deductions. An assessment Review Committee set up by Synod two years ago found that:• Over the last eight years total parish assessments in Tasmania have been virtually static, with the result that their real value has decreased by about 20% over this time. • Under the existing system, parishes are levied widely varying percentages of their income as an assessment. • Some parts of the existing ordinance are unclear, ambiguous or outdated. • There appears to be no consistent practice among parishes in how they treat bequests and other withdrawals of capital. The challenge before the Diocese is to come up with a way of levying parishes which:1. Generates the necessary income for the operation of the Diocese. Synod considered a proposed new ordinance, but came to the view that more work was needed before it was adopted. It agreed to further consider the matter next year and to enable this, requested the Diocesan Council to increase the membership of the Assessment Review Committee.
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