beginning in January, we would discontinue giving 5% of the collection to local charities on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of each month. I asked for their input because St. Paul is operating at a significant deficit and we need to find ways to reduce spending. We are already looking at the possibilities of freezing salaries and cutting other line items aggressively.
In the past six years, our income has decreased from $886,000 in 2012-2013 to $620,000 in 2017-2018 (30% decrease, before factoring inflation). During that same period of time, costs for salaries, benefits and utilities have increased. In order to keep pace with inflation, they would have to have increased 9%. We have to look for all of the ways possible to reduce the expenses that we can so that we will be able to pay our bills five years from now. If we find that our income reaches 2012-2013 levels again, we will be in a position to revisit giving to outside charities. In the meantime, we will continue to take up collections for the St. Martin Center on the first Sunday of the month.