Uncollectible GA per capita creeps up

From the Presbyterian News Service: Uncollectible GA per capita creeps up

LOUISVILLE — Uncollectible General Assembly per capita is projected to exceed $400,000 for the first time in more than a decade, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) was told today (Oct. 12).

Office of the General Assembly financial officer Christopher Nicholas said uncollectible per capita payments for 2005 now stand at $430,000 “with a maximum of about $10,000 expected to be received by the end of the year.”

The uncollectible amount equals about 3 percent of the total GA per capita billed to the presbyteries for last year. The actual uncollected amount in 2004 was $270,000.

…..

He [Stated Clerk] cited three reasons for the underpayments:

• 10 presbyteries have reported that a few of their churches are withholding per capita as a form of protest;
• two presbyteries have informed him that they are experiencing severe financial difficulties that makes payment of per capita problematic; and
• 25 presbyteries are underpaying because they only remit what they receive from their churches.