A.S. Haley: Good News: ECUSA Did Not Mortgage 815...

...Bad News: It Pledged its Endowment Instead
Sept. 15, 2011

When I reported in October of last year about the (then) latest meeting of the Executive Council of ECUSA in Salt Lake City, I had only the story posted by ENS about the meeting to go on. That story contained the following description of a Resolution passed by the Executive Council:

By way of a related resolution proposed by [the Finances for Mission Committee], the council approved borrowing of up to $60 million to refinance $46.1 million in debt that comes due at the end of this year. The $37 million renovation loan [to upgrade the headquarters at 815 Second Avenue] makes up the bulk of that amount. In addition, close to $10 million was spent on property in Austin, Texas, as a potential site for relocating the Archives of the Episcopal Church. The resolution said that the borrowing authority is also meant "to provide continuing working capital and liquidity."

The resolution requires that any refinancing agreements include a mandatory repayment schedule for the $37 million at a fixed interest rate. FFM chair Del Glover told his committee earlier in the meeting that because of past budget decisions, only about $500,000 of the principal has been paid off.

"To the extent that we are not paying debt, we are borrowing money to do the ministry of the church," he said.

the rest

To read between the lines here: the Treasurer of the Church, like all of the staff at 815, works for the Presiding Bishop, not for the Executive Council. When she tells him to "find money for litigation", his job is not to ask "Where?", but rather: "How much do you need?" And in exchange for such due obedience, she protects him from all incursions into his territory by the likes of the Executive Council -- who only imagine that they run the show when General Convention is not in session.