Diocesan Council has approved a new clergy compensation model for priests which insists they receive an adequate allowance for housing costs.
A recent task diocesan report found that the rapidly increasing cost of housing in Greater Vancouver in recent years has resulted in many diocesan clergy not receiving the housing allowance to which they are entitled.
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Ian Robertson, Chair of the Clergy Compensation Working Group |
Ian Robertson, chair of the Clergy Compensation Working Group, said that an initial survey found about a third of the diocese’s 79 parishes are underfunding the housing allowance. Collectively the shortfall was estimated at about $250,000.
According to diocesan regulations, every clergy person in the diocese is entitled to a rectory that contains a living room, kitchen, three bedrooms, a bathroom, a study, modern appliances consisting of a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and drying, a carport or garage, and some storage area. Clergy are expected to live in or near their parish, within a 30 minute drive.
If the parish does not supply a rectory, it must provide a housing allowance based on the fair rental value of a similar home or apartment. A survey by Robertson’s group found that means a housing allowance of at least $1,440 monthly in outlying communities, to $2,400 on the west side of Vancouver and in West Vancouver.
More money may be required in certain situations, said Rob Dickson, Diocesan Administrator. The figures are based on average market rental rates for three bedroom apartments and town houses, as surveyed by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Gathering current data in specific parishes may be necessary to set a fair allowance, according to Dickson. But at least the area average must be paid (if a rectory isn’t provided), no matter what a clergy person actually spends on housing.
It is the rental value that the allowance is based on, Dickson said. What the mortgage cost might be for priests buying their home, or the interest earned on the sale proceeds of a rectory the parishes may have sold, are not to be used as factors in determining the allowance, he said.
| Robert Dickson, Diocesan Business Administrator |
Without debate, two compensation schedules were approved unanimously. Schedule A pays clergy as they have been for several years, combing an annual minimum stipend (which parishes may top up), money for utilities, a transportation allowance, and the housing allowance.
The annual minimum ranges from $26,845 for a newly ordained priest, to $36,720 for a priest with over 15 years of service since ordination. They were increased for 2008 by 1.3 per cent, in line with the increase in the consumer price index for BC.
Schedule B, which it is hoped about 25 clergy and parishes will use voluntarily, is based on a point system that factors in everything except the utilities and transportation allowances.
Ian Robertson of