What is Cost of Living (COL) in D365 Account records?

Purpose:

The Cost of Living (COL) group is set by payroll – every 3 yrs it is reviewed.  

This paragraph from the 2020 Minister’s salary schedule describes the process:

Triennial reassessment of cost of living groups All pastoral charges are assigned to a cost of living (COL) group based on the median home value (obtained through realtor.ca) in the city, town, or rural community in which the pastoral charge is located. Every three years the median home value is reassessed, and if determined that a specific median home value in a location has changed significantly, the pastoral charge may be reassigned to a lower or higher cost of living group. The first assignment to cost-of-living groups occurred in the spring of 2014 (implemented January 2015). The first reassessment was implemented in January 2019, and the next one will be done for January 2022.

If a minister’s salary was unchanged in 2019 because the cost-of living group went down, the pastoral charge will need to check the minimum salary schedule to see if the minister’s salary is still above the minimum for that cost-of-living group.

For more detail, go to: www.united-church.ca; search & select: COL group assignment. The groups are available online.

It is set for each pastoral charge.

Changes every 3 yrs and is bulk uploaded to Dynamics once it has been set (next time will be summer 2021).

When is it Used?

When a pastoral charge or community ministry wants to complete a Record of Call/Appointment for a Minister, they need to have a COL group.  

Who can Update this?

For some community ministries, the COL group needs to be entered manually by an Office of Vocation (OV) staff who has rights to update.