Anyone have some insight into how much the activity level of a ward impact the amount of $$ a stake or ward get from SLC? Do wards with relatively high activity levels get that much more money than low activity wards? I guess this is one reason why people should have their names removed, or a reason not to if you want the wards to not have a lot of money from SLC. Who controls the ward boundaries? I thought it used to be done by the stake. Could SLC gerrymander ward boundaries to maximize the number with "low" activity levels?

The budget that goes from SLC to the STAKE (not the ward) is based on a figure of $X * butts-in-the-seats + $Y * YM/YW + $Z * YSA

(YSA = Young Single Adults)

The last two were added relatively recently (5 years?) to provide more money for youth and YSA who need more entertainment incentive to attend church.

Then the Stake President decides how much the stake needs and how to divide the remainder among the wards in his stake.

At the end of the year, any money not spent by the wards, goes back to the stake, but the stake does not return it to SLC. The stake can amass excess budget money and save it up for large youth or YSA activities. (Our previous SP saved up about $20,000 over a 10 year period that he used for a huge "go to Utah on charter buses and stay in hotels" youth trip in his last year.)

So are increasing inactivity levels be hurting ward budgets or is SLC being stingier? I wonder how bad things would have to get before the church starts redefining what activity level means. Didn't they do some of that already?