We've posted previously about our Budget process and preparation. I thought I'd do a quick follow-up on our Budget, because there can easily be some confusion. We list all our staff salaries, then we group staff health insurance separately. We also don't designate whether someone is full-time or part-time. So, if you look at the salaries, people may wonder why Paul makes more than Matt (as they are co-lead pastors). They actually make the same rate, but Matt is 3/4 time to take care of his daughter (although often he works more full-time than 3/4 time). Mark is raising some of his own salary over the next year, so his total is lower on the budget as well. When we hired Virginia, we told her, this is all we can pay you for now, so if you're good with that, we'd love to hire you. She was. We all froze our salaries this year due to a tightening economy and some next steps at The Journey that we want to be focused on.
Another question we get is about health insurance and retirement. Matt is the only one that has a retirement line, but that is simply because he doesn't receive any health insurance. In our Staff Policy Handbook, pastoral staff can receive retirement if they don't take any health insurance. This is the first year we have had a full health insurance policy for staff. So, Matt doesn't receive health insurance and the rest of the staff doesn't receive retirement benefits.
Hope that makes sense. If you ever have questions about the budget, email or talk to one of the Lead Team members or staff.