Managers and Directors at the Mission are planning or will soon be planning their department budgets for the fiscal year 2009/2010 which starts July 1. We have been blessed thus far to have managed through the 17 months of recession without having to cut any jobs or benefits and hope to be able to maintain this posture through good management and the provision of the Lord and our ministry partners. In fact, we have worked hard to raise salaries and increase benefits over the last four years because we believe that our most important asset is our team.
Here are some factors we are considering in this years budget process:
In the four years that I’ve been here we have always made raising pay an important issue. I’ve tried to tackle the low-pay issue with a mixture of across-the-board pay raises, a merit bonus system and by targeting groups that are most in need of an adjustment based upon salary surveys. Because of this, we have made a concerted effort to make sure that there is equity among “like” jobs and to create pay-bands that would ensure that we could reward good performance and still raise the level of all the people within a grouping. We will do so again this year, as we are planning to work on raising the pay of our front line workers, the shift managers.
Another important issue is creation of new jobs. There is not a program within the Mission that doesn’t need more staff and isn’t pushed to the max. While we are staff of nearly 70, we really could use about 140 people. Typically however, I will not add staff until I am convinced that adding a staff would significantly improve services and outcomes. This is partly because of the high cost of adding an employee, partly because i want to see an effort by the Director to work with volunteer staff first, and partly because I feel a responsibility for each staff member we hire. I cannot in good conscience bring on another staff person until I am convinced we will be able to pay that person for at least 1 year. This year we are budgeting to add very few new jobs. The jobs we are budgeting to add will likely not be filled until we are into the second or third quarter of the budget year so that we can be assured that our budget is meeting projections. Our new Volunteer Dept. is here to assist each Director with helping to get the volunteer staff and support you may need. Contact Kathya@trm.org.
Health care expenses are another huge issue. This year they are projected to go up 12%, despite our moves last year to go to a larger deductible. Yet, despite this, We feel like this has always been a great benefit to the Mission staff and we are budgeting no change in our health care benefit.
Lastly, is operational expenses. We are asking that dept. leaders make a budget for the coming year that accurately projects what you are hoping to accomplish in the new year. Think first of how you can make your program more affective at reaching the hurting people that we are here to serve, and then of what you will need to accomplish that task. Please be conservative in your estimate of training that requires an overnight stay and capital costs. In the end, we will all work together to set a budget number.
If you have any questions about your department or about how to prepare your budget, please call me or Sue. 253-383-4462.
