To the Reverend Clergy, Parish Council Presidents, Parish Council Treasurers & Esteemed Parish Council Members of the Metropolis of Atlanta:
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As part of the Insurance and Risk Management Initiative, effective this year, the Archdiocese requires every parish to submit a Certificate of Insurance Form to ensure that each Parish, Metropolis and the Archdiocese as a whole is adequately insured.
In the event that a Certificate of Insurance has not been submitted, the completed Certificate should be sent to [email protected].
Additionally, the Archdiocese Finance Committee has approved the updated Allocation Manual for release, which you may download here.
Thanking you for your attention to this important matter, Michael H. Missios, Chairman, Metropolis Finance Committee
Overview
February 17, 2022
Dear Clergy, Parish Council Presidents, Parish Council Treasurers & Esteemed Parish Council Members,
With the blessings of His Eminence, Metropolitan Alexios, on behalf of the Metropolis Finance Committee, I am pleased to enclose the 2023 Archdiocese Total Commitment Allocation package, which includes the following documents:
2023 Reconciliation Form (included in tabs of Data Form)
Data Form Questionnaire (included in tabs of Data Form)
The Archdiocese Finance Committee has recently approved a revision of the Manual. The Manual is still undergoing non-substantive, cosmetic changes, but the draft is included at this time so that the allocation process in the Metropolis of Atlanta gets underway. The final version of the Manual will be distributed to the parishes when available.
The main difference with the previous version of the Manual is the addition of the Clergy Benefits expense deduction. In the past this expense category was not deductable. However, effective this year clergy benefits payments are parish specific and, therefore, they are now deductible expenses. There are a few other minor changes in the manual mostly to improve clarity. For example, the sample data forms have been updated to reflect the addition of the clergy benefits deduction. It is imperative that the parish Treasurers and those who prepare the Allocation Forms read the Manual and become familiar with the expense deduction categories and with the requirements for substantiating and documenting all the claimed deductions. The Metropolis Finance Committee will assist parishes to maximize their claimed deductions. However, failure to comply with these requirements may result in rejection of the parish’s expense deductions, which will affect adversely its allocation assessment.
As in previous years, the Metropolis of Atlanta has been grandfathered and allowed to include two additional expense deductions at the Metropolis level (Tier-2,) which necessitate a slightly different Allocation Form and supporting documents than the other Metropolises. These deductions are for the first priest expenses and for Metropolis-specific expenses. The enclosed Metropolis of Atlanta Addendum describes the exceptions to the Manual that are applicable to the Metropolis of Atlanta.
The 2023 Data Form (Allocation Form) is the same as the 2022 Data form with the exception of the clergy benefits deduction and the applicable years (2021 and 2020 versus 2020 and 2019.)
The Reconciliation and Questionnaire Forms must accompany the Data Form in order to support and substantiate the claimed expense deductions. Failure to include these supporting documents may result in the rejection of some or all of the parish’s expense deductions. Some parishes have been using their own version of reconciliation (or mapping) form. They may continue using their own versions to the extent they are acceptable to the Metropolis Finance Committee.
The dates for submission of the data forms are as follows. The dates represent date-stamp of e-mail receipt or mail receipt at the Metropolis.
Form Due Date: April 1, 2022
Last date for submitting the form to the Metropolis without a late penalty: May 31st, 2022
Forms submitted after May 31st but before June 30th will result in a 5% late penalty
Forms submitted after June 30th will result in a 10% late penalty
As shown at the bottom of the allocation form, please submit the allocation forms and all required supporting documents as follows: