Clergy Compensation Guideline

Synod Council acted on the compensation guidelines for 2022 at its 15 September 2021 meeting, with the following action adopted:

SC 21.9.5, Council approved the following Finance Committee recommendation with amendments: that Synod Council increase the recommended base salary for pastors to $36,730 in 2022 and to no less than $37,860 in 2023, and that in providing of a housing allowance, the housing allowance be the fair market rental value for unfurnished housing appropriate to the pastor’s household size including utilities in the congregation’s community.

The following is offered as clarification:

• N.B., the $400 per annum seniority adjustment is still in place and should be added to the base cash salary.
• Social security percentage remains the same.
• Housing allowance is probably the most complicated change. When calculating utilities, one should be sure to include those things the church would be paying if it were it a parsonage, e.g., in Morgantown, there is a fire tax. That would be considered a utility. The best way to arrive at this figure is to go to a realtor.

It should be noted that pastoral compensation package increase is roughly half of the Federal COLA (which is over 6%).

To review the complete compensation guideline as it was published in 2021, click: http://wv-wmd.org/clergy/PastoralComp2021.pdf. The adjustments listed above should be made to the 2021 guideline.