At our most recent Parish Finance Council meeting on April 19^th, the members of that Council suggested that I dedicate one of my bulletin columns to the question of why our Parish needs to have a Centennial Capital Campaign inasmuch as we received a sizable sum of money from the Town of Milton from our recent sale of some land for the eventual building of a new fire station. The projects we hope will be funded by our Capital Campaign will be delineated in a Centennial Campaign brochure that is currently in process and will soon be available to you our parishioners. As most of you know, the four areas we hope our Campaign will address are needed capital projects in our Church building, our School, and our Rectory, and the establishment of an endowment which will make funds available for future innovative outreach and pastoral programs for youth and adults to continue and further our Parish’s mission into our next century.

My purpose in this column is to share with you the financial details about the recent sale of land here and the status of the loan payments to the Archdiocese of Boston that we have been paying and will continue to pay for the repair of the Church tower in 2019.

First, regarding the loan for the tower repair: we took $173,000 from savings to make a partial payment, and we took a loan from the Archdiocese which was a 10-year note for $350,000 (from June 15, 2019 until May 15, 2029). The Archdiocese charges 3.25% interest, and with our loan payments to date we still owe the Archdiocese $276,403.72, paying $3,611.12 per month.

Second, regarding the land sale: the Town of Milton paid $889,889 for our parcel of land. In anticipation of the sale, our Parish paid an appraisal fee and LSP consulting fee for site work and inspection, the total of which was $5,875. That left us with a net amount of $884,014. Because several Archdiocesan entities were involved in helping us in this process, we were charged what is called a Net Property Proceeds Tax of 18% of the net amount which is $159,123. As a result the amount the Parish received is $730,766. Of that amount one half, namely $365,383, is held in an escrow account for 5 years with the Archdiocese with an interest rate of .5%. The remaining $365,383 is available to be used in the event of any unforeseen emergencies in the future.

I hope this information helps you our parishioners to understand why it remains very important in this our Centennial Year to have a Campaign to fund major capital improvements and an endowment for our Parish’s future outreach and pastoral initiatives.

Have a blessed week!

Fr. Palardy