Policy on Financial Assistance for Extension Work
through Accessibility of Church Facilities
1. Objectives:
To promote extension work in the Montreal Presbytery by:
a) encouraging and assisting pastoral charges in thoroughly assessing,
and implementing projects to improve the accessibility to church facilities
for persons with disabilities;b) achieving economies of scale for competent planning and implementation
of expertise and advice and providing access to relevant information to all
participants;c) financially assisting both in the planning and implementation on a shared
basis with the pastoral charges.
2. Planning Stage
2.1 The Board has a common ‘bank’ of consultants which can be used by a pastoral charge so that there will not be multiplying costs with a diverse group of consultants or be discouraged from engaging consultants at an early stage.
2.2 The Board will make arrangements with a team at the Mackay Centre in Montreal to undertake feasibility studies for church facility improvements in the Montreal Presbytery.
2.3 The Board will fund one half (½) of the cost of such studies through the Board's experts, its one half not to exceed $2,000 for any particular pastoral charge.
2.4 The Board shall receive a copy of all such feasibility study reports.
2.5 Funds are available through the Extension and Survey Committee budget.
3. Implementation Stage
a) a feasibility study has been completed as above, or an equivalent satisfactory to the3.1 Provided that:
the Board is prepared to grant a loan bearing annual interest, repayable over ten (10) years with the first repayment of capital to begin after the third year, for up to half of the estimated project cost, with this loan to be disbursed concurrently with the pastoral charges payments. The interest rate will be based upon the current 5-year closed mortgage rate charged by the Royal Bank of Canada.
3.2 The budget available for loans to assist those pastoral charges which apply and qualify for such funding, will be determined by the number of applications and the amount requested in any particular year.
3.3 To allow a fair basis process and allocation based upon need and other considerations (including favouring congregations with lesser financial resources), applications must be made prior to April 30th, with confirmations usually within thirty (30) days of such application. Draw down may be over 12 months following confirmation of the commencement of work on the project. If work proceeds before approval of any grant or loan is made by the Board, there is no assurance that any costs accrued during this period will be accepted and included in any assistance package subsequently approved.