UMC bishops given 3% retroactive pay hike

In a highly unusual move, the board of the United Methodist Church’s finance agency voted April 25 to give the denomination’s bishops a 3 percent salary increase that will be retroactive to January this year.

The General Council on Finance and Administration board’s vote, during its online spring meeting, comes after a majority of bishops late last year asked to forgo a pay hike amid budget cuts denomination-wide.

“The GCFA Board considered several new factors that have emerged since the previous discussion,” said Sheila B. Ahler, chair of the board’s General Agency and Episcopal Matters Committee that deals with budgetary matters. “These include the increased workload for bishops, due to a decrease in their numbers and significant economic changes that have notably impacted the cost of living.”