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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of September 29, 2003

Still in the Black . . .

The Western Catholic Reporter enjoyed another successful year financially in 2002-03. We ended the year with $67,710, almost $20,000 less than the previous fiscal year. Nevertheless, the surplus is a healthy one, one of the largest in the WCR's history.

One reason for the surplus is increased revenues from the parish assessment program. Under that program, parishes in the Edmonton Archdiocese are assessed five per cent of their Sunday collections to help defray the costs of the archdiocesan newspaper. Parish revenues, in general, have risen significantly in recent years and that has led to more income for the WCR.

Free of cost

All parishioners are eligible to receive the newspaper without further cost. The amount a parish is assessed is not directly related to the number of parishioners who receive the newspaper.

To reduce the newspaper's surplus in the future, our board of directors has asked that parish assessments not be increased in 2004, even if the parish's revenue has increased. Parishes with declining revenues will, however, see a decrease in their assessment next year.

The surplus in revenue has enabled the WCR to publish a one-time "Open House" edition that will be delivered to 500,000 homes in central Alberta next month, explaining some of the services the Church provides and telling some stories of faith in our Catholic community. We expect the cost of that issue to be roughly $80,000.

Storm clouds

Despite the rosey financial situation of the WCR, storm clouds often loom on the horizon. We are concerned about the costs for mailing the WCR to 37,000 homes a week, which rose by $56,000 between 1998 and 2003 (43 per cent). Another 11 per cent increase will take effect in January. Increased revenues have made it possible for us to deal with those increases while maintaining a surplus. But we will be keeping a watchful eye on those increasing postal costs in the months and years ahead.

- Glen Argan