Release of new budget funds

[drepouille]

"Your budget allowance is based on current unit percentages provided to Church headquarters by your parent unit president." If your ward is chronically short of budget funds, your bishop can ask the stake president to change the unit percentages for your budget funds. The budget funds are split between the stake and the ward, and the stake president decides what percentage should flow to the ward level.

Your OP said, "girls camp took about the last chunk of the budget." I suppose that means that your YW Camp fund-raiser did not raise enough funds to pay for all your YW to go to camp. The YW budget is only used for YW Camp when insufficient funds are raised. It may also be true that the amount required by your stake for each YW is excessive. That is another thing your bishop can discuss with the stake president.

[russellhltn]

The YW budget is only used for YW Camp when insufficient funds are raised.

Actually, it's the other way around. A fundraiser is held if the budget is insufficient to cover the youth camps. I suspect op's problem is cash flow. The youth camps represent the biggest single expense, but it falls midyear before all the funds are received.

[dandshall2]

Either way about the idea of fundraising, I do not think that our ward does any fundraising (that I know of). I know the counselors of the bishopric talked maybe in the future we should do some fundraising to help off set the costs. I agree with the statement that youth camps represent the biggest single expense.

[johnshaw]

Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

[dandshall2]

Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

I understand your thought/opinion on that note. If that happens on a regular basis, I agree that the Bishopric will need to tighten budget belt up for all involved (mind you I just got called into the calling about 2-3 weeks ago). But for girls camp (the single largest expenditure), my Bishop paid for not only our girls, but also for some girls that were not our ward boundaries because the other Bishops in the stake did not want to pay for them. So it did take some extra from our budget, but at least this happened at the end (last week) of the budget period and the girls who might be investigating the church got to experience girls camp.

[aebrown]

Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

I understand your thought/opinion on that note. If that happens on a regular basis, I agree that the Bishopric will need to tighten budget belt up for all involved (mind you I just got called into the calling about 2-3 weeks ago). But for girls camp (the single largest expenditure), my Bishop paid for not only our girls, but also for some girls that were not our ward boundaries because the other Bishops in the stake did not want to pay for them. So it did take some extra from our budget, but at least this happened at the end (last week) of the budget period and the girls who might be investigating the church got to experience girls camp.

There's nothing wrong with the bishop making decisions to spend funds in ways that create testimony-building experiences, especially for youth. Personally, I'd be wary of spending my ward's funds on behalf of youth living in other wards without involving the stake president, but I don't know enough details to make any specific judgment in that regard.

But all that aside, I think JohnShaw's point was (and I agree with him) that it's not right to withhold reimbursement from members just to avoid a temporary negative balance. If members as part of their calling expend money as directed by their leaders (ultimately authorized by the bishop), then they deserve to be reimbursed promptly. The checks will clear, even if they lead to a negative balance, and new budget funds will eventually arrive to replenish the budget balance. If procedures need to be adjusted and training needs to be given, then by all means, learn from your experiences and do better next time. But don't make the members wait for their reimbursement just because the ward didn't manage finances optimally.