711. Budgets--The council shall recommend to the annual conference for its action and determination budgets of anticipated income and proposed expenditures for all funds to be apportioned to the Churches, charges, or districts.45 Prior to each regular session of the annual conference the council shall make a diligent and detailed study of the needs of all the conference agencies and causes asking to be included in the budget of any conference fund. The chairperson of each conference agency, or other duly authorized representative, shall have opportunity to represent the claims of that agency before the council.
1. Clergy Support Budgets--a) It shall be the duty of the council, unless otherwise provided, to estimate the total amount necessary to furnish a sufficient and equitable support for the district superintendents of the conference, including base compensation, travel, staff, office, and housing. The council shall report specific recommendations to the annual conference for conference action (523.2; 759.4a).46
b) The council shall report to the annual conference at each session the percentage approved by the General Conference as the basis for the Episcopal Fund apportionment to the annual conference and shall include in its recommended clergy support budget the amount determined by the treasurer of the General Council on Finance and Administration as necessary to meet this apportionment.
c) Based on recommendations from the episcopal residence committee (736.4d), the council shall recommend the amount to be raised as the annual conference share of the cost of the bishop's housing.
d) After consultation with the conference board of pensions, the council shall report to the annual conference the amounts computed by that agency as necessary to meet the needs for pensions and benefit programs of the conference. Such amounts need not be derived solely from apportionments.
e) It shall recommend to the annual conference an amount determined in consultation with the commission on equitable compensation to be used for compliance with the approved schedule of equitable base compensation for pastors (722.3).
f) It shall recommend to the annual conference estimates of the amounts needed for any other programs of clergy support the conference may adopt, such as a Sustentation Fund (723) or provision for the moving expenses of pastors.
2. Administration Budget--a) The council shall recommend to the annual conference estimates of the amounts needed for administrative expenses of the conference, including its own expenses and those of the conference treasurer's office. It shall consult with the conference agencies and officers to be included in the administrative budget regarding the estimated budgets of their expenses and base its conference administration budget recommendations on information thus received.
b) It shall include in its estimates recommendations regarding the conference's share of an area expense fund, if any, and apportionments for administration properly made by the jurisdictional conference and the General Conference (911.5).
3. World Service and Conference Benevolences Budget--a) In preparing the conference benevolences budget the council, working together with the conference council on ministries as provided in 711.3b, shall make diligent effort to secure full information regarding all conference benevolence and service causes that none may be neglected, jeopardized, or excluded. Basing its judgment of needs upon the information secured, the council shall recommend to the annual conference for its action and determination the total amount to be apportioned for the conference benevolences budget. After receiving the recommendations of the conference council on ministries, the council shall also recommend the amount or the percentage of the total of the conference benevolences budget which shall be allocated to each cause included in the said budget. Such recommendations should reflect agreement with the conference council on ministries on program agency allocations as specified below.47
b) The council on finance and administration and the annual conference council on ministries shall work together to establish and follow a procedure which shall preserve the following principles:
(1) It is the responsibility of the conference council on finance and administration to establish the total amount to be recommended to the annual conference as the conference benevolences budget and, within that amount, the total sum to be recommended for distribution among the conference program agencies. It is likewise the responsibility of the council to study the budget requests for any agencies or causes to be included in the conference benevolences budget other than the conference program agencies, including the requests of the conference council on ministries, and to give the chairpersons or other authorized representatives of such agencies and causes opportunity to represent their claims before the council.48
(2) It is the responsibility of the conference council on ministries to study the budget requests of the conference program agencies and to recommend to the conference council on finance and administration amounts to be allocated from the conference benevolences budget to each such agency, within the total established by the conference council on finance and administration.49
(3) It is the responsibility of the conference council on finance and administration to present the conference benevolences budget recommendations to the annual conference. The recommended allocations to conference program agencies should reflect agreement between the council and the conference council on ministries.50
c) The term conference benevolences shall include those conference allocations and expenditures directly associated with the program, mission, and benevolent causes of annual conference program agencies and institutions. annual conference program agencies and institutions shall be defined as those agencies with responsibilities parallel to those of the program-related general agencies (803) and institutions whose work is within the field of responsibility of one or more of those agencies. Administrative expenses which are directly related to the program, mission, and benevolent causes of conference program agencies, including the expenses of the conference council on ministries, may also be included in the conference benevolences budget. The term "conference benevolences" shall not include allocations and expenditures for other conference agencies and officers whose work is primarily administrative. It shall likewise not include annual conference clergy support funds as set forth in 717-725, allocations and expenditures of conference agencies responsible for administering clergy support funds, or apportionments made to the annual conference by the General or jurisdictional conferences.
d) The council, on receiving from the treasurer of the General Council on Finance and Administration a statement of the amount apportioned that annual conference for World Service, shall combine the total World Service apportionment, without reduction for the quadrennium, and the approved conference benevolences budget (711.3a). The sum of these two amounts shall be known as World Service and Conference Benevolences. The World Service and Conference Benevolences budget thus established shall include a statement of the percentage for World Service and the percentage for conference benevolences.51 (See also 712.)
4. Other Apportioned Causes--The council shall include in its budget recommendations specific amounts recommended for all other funds properly apportioned to the annual conference for the support of duly authorized general or other connectional funds. The budget recommendations shall likewise include any other amounts to be apportioned to the districts, charges, or Churches by the annual conference for conference or district causes of any kind.
5. Special Appeals.--a) No annual conference agency or interest, including any related agency or institution such as a school, college, university, hospital, home, housing project, or other service institution, shall make a special conference-wide appeal to the local churches for funds without the approval of the annual conference upon recommendation of the council except in case of an extreme emergency when such approval may be given by a two-thirds vote of the district superintendents and of the council, acting jointly. Neither shall special conference-wide appeals to local Churches for funds be made by such boards, interests, agencies, or institutions which are not related to the annual conference in which the appeal is to be made, unless approval for such an appeal is granted by the annual conference upon recommendation of the council. The annual conference approvals specified in this paragraph shall not be required for special churchwide financial appeals which have been approved under the provisions of 911.4, for solicitations which have been approved under the provisions of 912.3, or for any other general fund promotion or appeal authorized by the General Conference or approved and conducted under other provisions of The Book of Discipline.
b) When application is made to the council for the privilege of a special conference-wide financial appeal, whether by special collections, campaigns, or otherwise, the council shall investigate the application and its possible relation to other obligations of the conference, and in the light of the facts make recommendations to the conference for its action and determination. If application for privilege of a special appeal is made directly to the conference, the application shall be referred to the council before final action is taken.
c) The council may include in its budget recommendations to the annual conference amounts to be considered as goals for special appeals or other nonapportioned causes.
6. The council shall make its budget recommendations to the annual conference in a format based on guidelines suggested by the General Council on Finance and Administration.
45See Judicial Council Decisions 551, 560.
46See Judicial Council Decisions 44, 584, 590, 591.
47See Judicial Council Decisions 400, 521, 551, 582.
48See Judicial Council Decisions 521, 551.
49See Judicial Council Decisions 521, 551.
50See Judicial Council Decision 551.
51See Judicial Council Decision 348.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 711
1996 United Methodist General Conference