St. Matthews has made many important investments in energy saving improvements over the past several years including new windows, insulation, and energy efficient lighting. In 2020, we decided to make a dramatic reduction in our carbon footprint and installed solar panels on the church. We financed the solar panels with a $80,000 mortgage on the parsonage. The loan is payable over ten years with a rate adjustment at year five. The rate adjustment will happen early in 2025 and it is likely that the current 4.87% interest rate will increase. The combination of energy savings and special incentive payments have offset the annual mortgage payments to date. An added benefit is that producing most of our electricity needs for the church building reduced the impact of electric rate increases since 2020. The statistics with this information are available by clicking HERE, or in the hospitality area by the name tags.
The Finance team, with the approval of the church council, is asking for contributions to pay down this solar installation loan. It is an opportunity for you to make a direct investment in green energy and it will help the church financially. The current required mortgage payments are $843.45 per month. In the absence of any reduction in the mortgage, a rate increase would also mean an increase in our required payments starting in 2025. An early repayment of the loan would save significant interest expense over the remaining life of the loan. It also gives us the ability to accelerate the full financial benefit of generating most of our church building electricity needs by taking offsetting debt service mortgage payments out of future budgets.
I believe strongly in doing my part to help combat the negative impacts of climate change and felt this would be a great way to invest in a greener future. You can make your own green energy investment by making a check payable to St. Matthews United Methodist Church with Mortgage Reduction in the memo line, or select Mortgage Reduction from the online giving menu on the church website.
Nancy Vaccaro, Acting Finance Chairperson