October 19-20, 2024
Dear parishioners,
We recently held our first finance council meeting for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, and the following is a
summary of what we discussed. As a reminder, our diocesan fiscal year always begins on July 1, and our recent
finance council meeting reviewed the first two months of this fiscal year.
In the old business part of the meeting, I provided an update on the United in Christ Capital Campaign. Our
goal for the diocesan portion of the campaign is $367,250. As donations are received, half of each donation
goes to the diocesan goal, and the other half of the donation goes to the parish. As of the end of August,
$430,446 had been donated to the campaign, which means that $215,223 had been applied to our diocesan goal,
and the same amount has come to the parish over the course of the campaign so far. As you recall, so far, we
have used the campaign funds to repair the tuck-pointing and exterior paint on our Paulding church and to
replace the roof on the Paulding Ed Center/office building. Thank you for your continued generosity!
Since we were reviewing the numbers for July and August, nothing unexpected was reported in the profit and
loss section of the meeting, especially considering that the school year began in mid-August. However, it is
worthwhile to note a few items. First, as of the end of August, we were $1,915 under budget year-to-date for
our utility expenses. Of course, every year, winter weather proves to be the wild card when it comes to utilities.
So, we will have a more accurate look once the cold weather sets in as to how these expenses will progress.
Another item that we briefly discussed was that one of the furnace units at our school gym died at the beginning
of the school year. We replaced this unit, which cost $5,482.
Our vocations endowment (restricted funds) contained $127,213 at the end of August, and our school
endowment (restricted funds) contained $144,451.
Regarding 2 nd collections, Divine Mercy donated $500 to sponsor a table at the Hands of Hope annual Fall
Banquet that will be happening on Thursday of this week.
In the new business section of the meeting, we discussed upcoming capital maintenance projects. The first to be
discussed was the repaving of the Paulding parking lots, which was completed last week. The total cost for that
project came to $51,547. The full amount was covered by funds available from the capital campaign. Thank
you again for your ongoing support! The next project discussed involved minor repairs on the boiler system at
the parish office building. The council approved these necessary repairs at the contractor’s proposed cost of
$8,000. Additionally, we discussed some trees that need to be trimmed, and a few others that need to be
removed. We are still waiting for the contractors to submit their estimates.
The last project we discussed was the installation of sound-absorbing panels in our school gym. The cost of this
project came to a total of $35,218, and this same amount will be covered almost completely by the remainder of
the Covid relief money that was made available to private schools. This installation will mark the completion
of our gym renovation.
Relatedly, our last item of conversation focused on the reality that costs continue to rise for labor and materials
for capital maintenance repairs. For example, the Paulding parking lot repaving was originally estimated
around $40,000 a few years ago when we compiled our list of repairs; as mentioned above, that cost is now
$51,547. To replace the gutters and roof on the parish office building was estimated around $70,000 a few
years ago, but when we had the work done, the cost was $165,635. The gym renovations were also more than
originally estimated, but fortunately, those were paid by the government Covid relief money.
Blessings,
Fr. Ammanniti
