How much of this am I supposed to pay for?
 

All the stuff/materials for all the meetings.

Registrations, summer camp, etc.

Philmont (high adventure) 2 week thing-- over $500 + 2 weeks vacation time.

I like the idea of deducting it from my tithing.

I've already been given the subtle message that the higher road is to not ask for reimbursement on anything.

I may reimburse myself from my own tithing. In that case, all of the sudden, my budget just became very large!

Re: How much of this am I supposed to pay for?
 

I think that the right thing to do is to be reimbursed for ALL of it. Scout leaders or anybody else shouldn't be asked to pay up in relation to their calling. This leads to certain callings being more expensive to have than others.

You shouldn't be expected to DO everything AND PAY for everything. That's just not reasonable. I hope that it wasn't your Bishop dropping all of these hints.

Re: How much of this am I supposed to pay for?
 

That's unfortunate in my opinion. It creates callings that only wealthier people can fill. They have a ward budget for a reason. Also, the amount of money per kid was upped by the church a couple of years back. There's no reason for you to be stuck footing the whole bill.

As a financial clerk I have to say this -

If you don't get reimbursed you are stupid. The church has plenty of money and doesnt want you to unfairly foot the bill.

However, If you decide not to be reimbursed you can deduct it for your taxes. If you deduct it from your tithing it just makes your tax bill higher. Another thing you can do is deduct mileage on your taxes (you generally dont get reimbursed unless its a big trip). Everytime you drive to the church for a meeting see how many miles that is and deduct those on your taxes.

I remember when I was set apart as the sacrament coordinator, I was blessed that I would have the financial means to provide for my calling.

A loaf of bread a week?

Mike the Handbook of Instructions is pretty clear that most everything should be paid for out of the ward budget. They strongly encourage 1 extended scout camp each year and though they encourage this to come out of the budget, they allow for asking families to chip in, and for fundraising. You are allowed to fundraise for one event per year which is meant to be your extended scout camp. Nowhere does it mention that the high road is the scoutmaster taking the hit personally.

the part that is going to kill me is using an entire year's vacation for one scouting trip.

Maybe I will bail out.

The handbook is MORE than clear ... everything you site MUST come out of the Young Men's budget. It is not an issue of you being able to pay etc.

Scouts can fund raise but ONLY to pay for one camp as previously stated.

If anyone disagrees, you can take it up with Elder Packer, He was instrumental in creating the new budget system the church now operates under.

Mike,

I just say "amen" to all of the comments listed above. Boy oh boy, could I tell you some stories about budget battles in my ward. Bottom line is that it is church policy that the financial burden is NOT put on the youth leaders.

As for your vacation time, that is a tough one. But "two weeks"? Where are you going for two weeks? I would set the limit at one week. If the bishop wants you do a longer camp, tell him you need someone else to come and cover the extra time. I never did more than a 5-6 day summer camp.

Philmont is a 2 week high adventure thing in New Mexico.

Wow. Is this already a done deal? If that represents your entire vacation time for your job, I wouldn't do it. That's too much of a sacrifice for your family. But that's just me. Good luck with that one.

There is also a good reason not to pay for it all, and Steel referred to it. Church programs should be run uniformly and all should be able top arpticiapte or accept callings. Allowing or requiring (depneding on perspective) leaders to absorb costs leads to dispairites in treatment within stakes and wards and is very much counter to any effort to unify the youth and the wards, IMO. Use the budget and lkittle else.

I agree with what has been said about not paying out of pocket. 1-2 weeks of lost/vacation wages to go to scout camp is more than enough sacrifice for any leader. Throw in all the other stuff that is not reimbursed, such as gas and mileage and it could become very pricey. imo, if someone doesn't get reimbursed, they are also doing a disservice to future leaders, as the ward won't have an accurate picture of how much is actually required to run the program, possibly underbudgeting in the following year.

Does serving as a scout leader make you exempt from contributing to Friends of Scouting?

NO way in hell I would spend all my vacation on scout camp. Now that I think about it though, you'd probably have to pay me to go to scout camp.

I wonder if I've never been considered for scouting cuz I never donated to Friends of Scouting.

Hmm.

Two weeks of hell at my expense? No thanks.

Philmont is a great camp, if you have the time and the $$. Unfortunately, it is also next to impossible to split up the week(s) if you have multiple available leaders. As I understand it, Part of the camp is spent on a high country backpacking trip where the troop would be unavailable to do a leader swap.

We had a court of honor last week for one of our older boys who recently returned from AF basic training. He said that the highlight of his entire scouting career was without question Philmont.

I did Philmont when I was 14. It was great.

I'm just not sure I want to fork over the time.