Synod members approve 2023 budget
Members of Diocesan Synod voted to approve the diocesan budget for 2023 at a meeting on Saturday.
The 2023 budget, which is the first to be built around the 13 plans created by people in the deaneries as they seek to be fruitful and sustainable, was set at £9.6 million.
Members, who are parish representatives, voted overwhelmingly to approve the budget during the last synod meeting of 2022, held at Holy Trinity Church, St Austell.
As promised in November 2021’s synod, a review of central costs (Church House) was undertaken and resulted in a reduction of £254,000, with that reduction added to the 2023 budget’s figures.
There was also the announcement of almost £1 million in national and diocesan funding to support the work of the Church in the most deprived areas of Cornwall through the Lowest Income Community Fund (LICF).
Giving the budget report to synod, Sophie Eddy, Diocesan Director of Finance and Assets, set out the main points which dictated 2023’s figures: the need to increase the support to parishes, an increase in the spend on the Net Zero 2030 agenda alongside a reduction in income and a small increase in expenditure.
The aim of the 2023’s budget is to achieve the diocese’s aim of aligning its support services to achieve the aims of its Saints’ Way vision and to support the deanery plans as implementation of that work begins.
Sophie added: “Our budget for 2023 has been led by the deanery plans and are part of our commitment to becoming a fruitful and sustainable diocese.”
