We had a very successful Budget meeting after services yesterday. Thank you to Harry Moran for an informative presentation, and to all of those who participated.

It is an austere budget this year, and one of the places that we could not keep up with the cost of living was in non-ministerial staff wages. John Fisher suggested that if 20 pledging households would add $100 to their pledge, it would be enough to
give our staff this needed raise.

Diane Allegro, head of Personnel Committee, mentioned that we are below the rates that we should be paying at this point, and that we have been trying to raise salaries to meet a standard wage in past years.

Juliana has been a terrific addition to our team as Administrator, Carol Ann is doing a fantastic job along with Judith on our Music Program, and Jamie is gathering more and more families in the Religious Education Program.

It was decided at the meeting to put out a letter to the Congregation to ask if there are any households that would like the opportunity to help with this cause.

You are welcome to pledge an extra $100, or any other amount great or small to help contribute to raises for our staff. Please email Sue Fisher at suefisher2037@gmail.com so that she can make the adjustment to your pledge by Friday, December 13th.

We will vote on the Budget on Sunday December 15 th at our Annual Meeting. If we receive more than the needed amount to offer these raises, the Finance Committee will advise the Board on how to best apply the extra funds. We are still running a
deficit budget for 2025 at this point, the raises would add to that deficit, which is why we are offering a defined opportunity for the raises.

Thank you for thinking about this opportunity. At the meeting it received overwhelming support. Let’s see if we can make this support translate to a cost of living increase for our much appreciated staff!

Tari Lee Muth
UUCSS President