If an auxiliary's budget is exceeded...

What is the best way to handle an auxiliary budget being exceeded? Adjust by taking budget from another category, or ignore it?

At the last part of the year, the RS budget was blown, with a reimbursement taking the RS category over the budgeted amount. We are wondering what, if anything, we should do about it. I have been under the impression that the budget is more of a guideline than a rule, and of internal use as a ward, but not otherwise. When I was stake clerk, for a few years we didn't even set a budget, but just paid for things as they came up. It worked out in that case, but my bishop is wondering if this is legit at the ward level.

I think at the ward level, the organization budget is a guideline and it's up to the bishop to decide what to do. As long as the overall ward budget is not exceeded, no one outside of the ward is going to be concerned about it. But if all the ward's funds were budgeted out, then if the RS overspent, someone is going to have to underspend to keep the ward as a whole from going over.

I do want to remind you that "No stake or ward expenses may be incurred or paid without the presiding officer’s authorization." (General Handbook 34.5.7) The bishop does rely on his clerks to keep him informed about the budget status. This may need to be communicated not only to the leaders, but to the ward membership to keep someone from making a purchase without permission expecting to get reimbursed.

And since you're at the 2025 budgeting phase, the Bishop may want to review with the ward council the responsibilities that each organization has for tracking their budgets. And providing budget updates to each org throughout the year, can help them keep this in mind as they consider what activities and expenses they're planning for the remainder of the year.

We all know that sometimes these budget busters come up in spite of our best efforts, and you may have done exactly that and tried to avoid going over budget this year (until the unexpected expense was incurred). @russellhltn gave the correct answer to your O.P., so just my additional two cents.

If you're a clerk, this is something you should be managing and looking at for the Bishop. If an org is getting close I always send a note to both the org leader and the Bishop. It's up to the Bishop, as has been said, to determine whether to cut someone off, or account for it somewhere else.

I wouldn't move budget allocation around, it doesn't allow you to track, over time, how the budget is going - If a group is going over routinely, that might be a reason to up their allotment for next year. If someone is always coming under, maybe take from them. This is analysis that should be done each year as the budget is prepared.

but who am I kidding most people treat this money like it's some kind of expense account.

johnshaw wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2024 1:27 pm I wouldn't move budget allocation around, it doesn't allow you to track, over time, how the budget is going - If a group is going over routinely, that might be a reason to up their allotment for next year. If someone is always coming under, maybe take from them. This is analysis that should be done each year as the budget is prepared.

I was a clerk for 3 bishops. John, this is very good advice (IMO) and keeps visibility for all. In our case, we held back a small emergency fund in the budget to cover for organizations going over without issue (didn't "move" money, just covered it in the overall ward budget). Setting a budget is trying to predict the future and we aren't very good at that. But there is value in organizations managing their funds and realizing that there are limits to what they can spend.

I also kept the past 3 years of budget history on a spreadsheet (by organization) so the organizations (and bishopric) could see the 3-year trend in spending. It helped them plan for the next year when they could see the prior 3 years. I tracked allocated amount, spent amount, and the percentage spent (to the budgeted amount). I updated it quarterly and sent it to the organization leaders so they could see how they were tracking to year-end (this was before LCR when organizations didn't have access to their budget information).