Rebalancing Checking Accounts at Christ Church

July 1, 2025
The Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church

Parishioners may recall a conversation at the Finance Town Hall on September 29, 2024 about various balances in the Parish’s bank accounts. The “general” operating account, used to cover our routine daily expenses, is held in a local bank; designated funds are held in an investment account held by the Diocese. However, because it takes almost three months to transfer money from the investment account into our bank account, donations to designated funds have historically been held in the local bank account so they remain liquid, and transferred to that investment account  only when there is enough cushion to ensure we can pay our daily expenses. 

Over the course of 2023 and 2024, it became apparent there weren’t sufficient funds in the general account to cover all emergent and/or expected daily expenses; the Vestries of those years made the decision to “borrow” money from designated funds held in the local bank account to cover our daily needs. Whenever this occurred, the amount borrowed from the designated funds was noted in the general account as a negative amount.

This bookkeeping was done “on paper” in order to keep track of how much the general fund owed the designated funds. To explain this in a way that makes sense regarding our household budgets, this is a bit like mentally putting aside $3000 for vacation, but not actually moving it to a separate account. Then, your water heater breaks, and you spend $1500 fixing it. No money was moved, but you no longer have the same amount set aside for vacation, because the vacation money is being used to fill the hole created by the water heater. The idea was that when cash flow improved, the general fund would be refilled without having to change the written value of the designated funds.

To date, cash flow has not improved sufficiently, and the Parish ended 2024 (and, started 2025) with a cumulative negative balance of $46,015.26 in the general account – meaning, we borrowed this amount of money from the designated funds and haven’t received sufficient funding to repay this amount back to those funds. 

Consequently, the borrowed amounts were added to the general account creating a negative balance but no corresponding subtraction was made to the designated fund balances indicating withdrawals from those funds. The picture at the end of 2024, and as we discussed at the 2025 Annual Meeting, showed the negative effect of the borrowing (the negative general account balance) but also showed over-stated balances in the designated accounts. 

At its May 2025 meeting, the Vestry made the decision to end this practice and approved a motion to rebalance these account balances, based on a recommendation from the Finance Committee. The following “on paper” shift will occur shortly:

• $36,000 – shift this amount from the Capital Projects line to the General Account
• $5,000 – shift this amount from the Columbarium line to the General Account
• $5,000 – shift this amount from the Dahl line to the General Account
• $15.26 – shift this amount from the Rector’s Discretionary line to the General Account

The following table provides a bit more detail and includes only those accounts which are affected by the approved adjustments. All other accounts remain as reported in the 2024 Year End financials at the Annual Meeting.

These adjustments result in starting 2025 with a zero balance in the general account, reducing the designated balances in the checking account by the amounts indicated, displaying improved accuracy, and adding more transparency to the actual state of the various balances.

The Vestry remains committed to the following: living within our means, which means budgeting based on pledges and gifts to the general fund; increasing the funds held in common and used for our common good, so that we are not reliant on designated funds for daily expenses; specifically approving any monies spent from designated funds; continuing to be transparent regarding our cash flow and common needs.

One important note: this decision does not impact the designated fund balances in the Diocesan Investment Fund at US Bank. As of 4/30/2025, these are the amounts held at US Bank.

For questions, contact any member of the Vestry.