Nothing hidden in the church funding process
FIRSTLY, thank you to your reporter Helen Bowditch who came along to the Vale Church and who, together with your photographer, contributed a very fair and encouraging report [Parish officials satisfied that church is well looked after, Monday 14 February]. Secondly, however, it is a pity that the Opinion editorial was, by contrast, so negative including such phrases as ‘parochial insurgents’. From its opening few words referring to ‘smiles in a photograph outside the Vale Church’, of which I saw no evidence, the whole thrust of the editorial was designed to be prejudicial. The implication that the funding of the maintenance of the Vale Church should be borne by the taxpayer rather than the ratepayer is simply wrong-headed. The extra cost of funding the church through General Revenue would be considerable. At present the churchwardens and the parish church management boards are unpaid and the administration costs of transferring the funding to Revenue would not be negligible and that extra cost would fall on the ratepayers, albeit through tax rather than rates.
Your editorial suggested that the parish authorities were carrying out a ‘public inspection’. This was not the case. All Vale douzeniers were invited by the chair of the parish church management board, out of courtesy, to come to the church to see what maintenance work needs doing and to better inform them about the work which is planned for this year. Any ratepayer or interested party is able to visit the church to look round, indeed they would be welcome, as the church is open from early morning to late afternoon each and every day.
The request to the ratepayers for the funding of the maintenance and repairs will be subject to a publication in the Gazette Officielle (the cost of which is about five per cent of the Remede and goes to, guess where?, the Guernsey Press) with an invitation to attend the ecclesiastical meeting (which is separate from the parish meeting) to approve both the funding for the work required and the churchwardens’ accounts. These accounts are available for inspection and, once they have been examined by a chartered accountant, will be published on the parish website for all to see. The whole process is transparent and scrutinised (and free of charge).
JEREMY SMITHIES
People’s Churchwarden
St Michel du Valle, Vale.
Editor’s note: We thank Mr Smithies for his letter. The opinion column was not promoting parish church funding through general revenue, rather raising the debate on how they may be funded in the future.