Blog

Shalom. As you may know, I was elected as your new treasurer and started my first term in June. First, I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve Peckar for the great job he has done over the past two years serving as treasurer of Beth Evergreen, the leader of our Life & Legacy endowment committee (The Beth Evergreen Legacy Society), and as our building manager. Fortunately, he continues to serve in the latter two roles and we very much appreciate his leadership and dedication.

I’d like to start by telling you a little bit about myself, and how I got into the position of your treasurer. Prior to moving to Colorado with my wife Sandy two years ago, we resided in Claremont, NH where we raised a family and I maintained a private practice in psychology. Sandy was a physical therapist and worked for various hospitals and visiting nurse associations. We were active members of our local temple, Temple Meyer David, a conservative congregation in Claremont. Other than secretary (my handwriting is indecipherable), I held every office on the Board and finished my tenure as treasurer and house person (building manager), having served in those roles for over 10 years. Sandy’s handwriting is great, so she assumed the secretary position for a number of years. When we moved to Colorado in January 2018 to be near our daughter and son-in-law, we began the search for synagogues. In May of 2018, we attended an outdoor Shabbat service at CBE. We felt very welcomed by Rabbi Jamie and the members in attendance that evening. We also really enjoyed the music. The High Holiday services we attended in 2018 clinched it for us, so we joined CBE. In subsequent conversations with members of the CBE community, I must have mentioned that I had been treasurer at our previous congregation and the rest is history!!

Over the course of the past several months of my early tenure on the Board, I have learned more and more about our budget and what it takes to run Congregation Beth Evergreen. At the same time I assumed the treasurer role,  Eve Mills started in her position as our new Executive Director and together we have looked at the expenses and revenues with a new set of eyes. Over the past six months, Eve and I have  taken the opportunity to reduce expenses and generate funds to shore up our budget. Some examples include: making changes to our phone system and credit card processor; opening an interest-bearing account for our non-operating funds; and,  opening a brokerage account so that we can now accept shares of appreciated stock in payment for dues, other donations and contributions to our endowment.

However, despite these efforts to reduce expense and generate new funds, we have had several unfortunate circumstances, that if not addressed, are projected to lead to an estimated  $13,000 deficit this fiscal year. One of our furnaces stopped working and needed to be repaired; a large tree limb broke off in a wind storm on November 30^th and came through the roof in the social hall resulting in a $8,000 insurance policy deductible;  and, we have lost some rental revenue due to challenges faced by one of our tenants. While we will be able to weather the unfortunate confluence of these events with the reserves  your board has set aside and some generous donations, as treasurer, I don’t believe in running operations at a deficit and do not want to rely on our “rainy day” funds to make up operating deficits. My assessment after scrutinizing our annual budget is that our projected revenues will not cover projected operating expenses.

While, Eve, I and the board will continue to  find  ways to reduce expenses  and enhance revenue, I ask that our membership honor their dues pledges and commitments for payment in a timely manner and, if possible, consider increasing your dues level and making additional donations. And, to ensure the longevity of Congregation Beth Evergreen, and decrease our reliance on annual dues, please consider joining our Legacy Society and our members who have already made commitments to our endowment fund through a gift in your will, trust, retirement fund or life insurance policy. Currently, we derive about 4% of our revenue from our endowment, but we have an ambitious goal of funding at least 20% of our operating budget from our endowment in the next 5 years. If you are interested in more information about CBE’s Legacy Society endowment, please contact Steve Peckar, Dan Herman, Eve Mills or any of our Board members.

In closing, I want to assure you that I (and your Board) are committed to ensure that our congregation retains its stable financial foundation. However, it is up to all of us, as members, to do what we can to support the congregation and ensure that the programs we appreciate are supported.