| AdminHistory | The Finance, Seat and General Purposes Committee consists of the past members of the Executive, if members of the Council, the elected Life Members, and not more than eight other members of Council. The 1963 Laws of the Congregation list the functions of the Finance, Seat, and General Purposes Committee as follows:
- to supervise and regulate all accounts and books belonging to the Congregation;
- to receive applications for membership and to allot seats in the Synagogue, and supervise and manage all matters relating to these seats and the payment of membership dues;
- to fix the scale of fees for Marriages, the charges for interment in the burial grounds of the Congregation, the fee payable to Watchers under the Chevra Kadisha Law, and the scale of capitation fees payable to the Chief Rabbi's Fund.
The Committee's duties have not changed a great deal since the late nineteenth century; the duties listed in a meeting held on 13 November 1881 are very similar to the 1963 Laws:
The Finance, Audit, and General Purposes Committee shall consist of 6 members of the Council and the honorary and immediate past officers, the Treasurer to act as Chairman. The Committee shall meet monthly to audit the accounts of the Treasurer and Collector, and such other accounts as may be presented. They shall also receive applications for and allot seats in the Synagogue. They shall provide name plates for such seats, the cost to be charged to the occupant, and no other plates to be used. They shall also decide on any charge that may become necessary to be made for interment in the Burial Grounds of the congregation. They shall have discretionary power to enforce payment of all arrears at such time and under such circumstances as they shall deem proper.
The Finance Committee and the General Purposes Committee are mentioned in the Congregation's first Annual Report of 1854, when they were operating as separate committees. They were combined some time in the early twentieth century. |