Ordinance on Financial Equalization of Parishes (FIAV KG) - Indexing (§ 4 Paragraph 3 FIAG KG) (FIAGKG)

1. An index period consists of four full implementation years.

2. For an index period, an indexation occurs if there is a change of at least 1.0 index points compared to the relevant original index level or the relevant index level at the last indexation.

3. The relevant original index level is the index level of November of the year preceding the year the Law on Financial Equalization of Church Communities, dated March 19, 2019, came into effect. Subsequently, the relevant index level is the index level of November of the year preceding a four-year index period. The base is the index level of December 2015 = 100.

4. If an indexation results in an index level below the relevant original index level, the original relevant index level applies for the affected index period.

1. The revenue from the financial equalization tax of one year is credited to the financial equalization in the following year.

1. The decisive percentage for the basic distribution is stated in whole percentages.

1. The state tax revenue of a parish includes the following types of taxes and related dues

a) Income and wealth taxes of natural persons;

b) Personal taxes;

c) Withholding taxes;

d) Capital gains taxes on real estate of natural persons;

e) Additional taxes and tax fines.

2. Write-offs on tax receivables may be deducted from the relevant state tax revenue of the parish based on the approved annual financial statement.

3. Recoveries of tax receivables from the relevant procedures are considered as an increase to the relevant state tax revenue.

4. The department specifies the details related to paragraphs 2 and 3 through instructions.

1. The determining significant percentage rate of the skimming quota in the Disparities Compensation (DAQ), as specified by the legislatives of the cantonal organizations of the respective denomination, shall be indicated to one decimal place after the comma.

1. The minimum equipment threshold (MAG) of the SKI, as determined by the legislatives of the cantonal organizations of the respective denomination, is specified in whole numbers.

1. The determining percentages for the upper and lower limits, as set by the legislatures of the cantonal organizations of the respective denomination, shall be specified to one decimal place.

1. Administrative Costs of the Cantonal Organization

The administrative costs of the cantonal organization refer to the attributable administrative expenses incurred in the execution of the financial equalization accounting. These expenses must be proportionate in comparison to the annual share of the cantonal organization.

**1. The Area of Societal Regional and Cantonal Church Tasks Includes the Following Fields of Activity:**

a) Specialized pastoral care such as hospital chaplaincy, psychiatric chaplaincy, prison chaplaincy, emergency chaplaincy, chaplaincy for the hearing impaired, or chaplaincy for asylum seekers and refugees;

b) Church professional and working offices in areas such as church music, education and training, diakonia and social work, youth, religious education and pedagogy, or special education teaching;

c) Services in the area of aging and care such as palliative care;

d) Services in the area of children, youth, and family such as camps, meet-ups, or thematic events;

e) Services for socially disadvantaged individuals such as ecumenical emergency aid or social counseling.

**2. The Area of Support for Services with a Societal Character by Third-party Organizations Includes the Following Fields of Activity:**

a) Services by aid organizations such as Caritas or the Swiss Protestant Church Aid (HEKS);

b) Services by institutions in the social sector such as the Marriage and Life Counseling Association (VEL) or the Solothurn Association for Adult Education (SOVE);

c) Services by institutions in the field of youth work such as Jungwacht, Blauring, Cevi, or Jungschar;

d) Services by institutions in the field of culture such as church concerts;

e) Services by institutions in the field of migration such as the legal advice center for asylum seekers in Solothurn;

f) Services by institutions in the field of special education such as the Children's Home Bachtelen in Grenchen.

**3. The Area of Investment Contributions to Parish Communities Includes as a Field of Activity:**

Grants provided by the cantonal organizations for construction projects to their parish communities. The grants are primarily to be awarded for sacred buildings, parish community houses, and parsonages or apartments with a sustainable usage goal. Sustainable usage goals are deemed to be those that account for the development of the parish communities and enable a polyvalent use of the buildings.

1. The quality of service delivery is fundamentally measured by the outcome of the service. Service delivery must be oriented towards the effective benefit for the recipient.

2. The service delivery pursuant to § 9 paragraph 1 must comply with generally applicable quality principles. For specialized pastoral care as well as expert and operational offices, professionally qualified personnel must be employed.

3. Contracts with third parties pursuant to § 9 paragraph 2 must be awarded with written agreements. These service agreements must be limited in time and must specify at least the specific scope of the contract and services, the principles of qualitative and quantitative service delivery, reporting and controlling, as well as the financial volume of the contract.

4. For subsidies for construction projects pursuant to § 9 paragraph 3, each cantonal organization must issue regulations regarding eligibility, awarding criteria, eligible costs, contribution rates, and the application and accounting procedures.

1. In the performance report, the aspects of the individual services of the cantonal organizations are to be presented as follows

a) Foundations: This section presents the legal foundations, the service agreements, and the resulting services;

b) Deployment of Resources: This section elucidates the use of personnel, the qualifications of the staff, the costs of the services, the distribution among the cantonal organizations and third parties, as well as the organization of the service;

c) Offering: This section describes the services by means of measurable indicators such as the number of operations, the number of hours rendered, the number of people reached, and target groups, as well as an explanation of the reasons for failing to reach the target groups;

d) Outcome: This section provides information about the target groups and beneficiaries, the accessibility of the target groups, and the benefits to the public.

2. The performance report includes a consolidated presentation of the services of the three cantonal organizations over six reporting years.

3. The performance report is to be published by the cantonal organizations on the internet, with notification of this publication to be made in the official gazette.

1. Entitled to claim are parish congregations that merge.

2. The newly merged parish congregation shall receive for a period of three years at least those contributions or pay at most those dues that the individual parish congregations jointly received or made prior to the merger.

1. The number of adherents of a denomination is determined according to the register of church communities of the base years.

1. For the calculation of state tax revenue, the church community accounts of the base years are decisive.

1. The base years are three and four years prior to the effective year.

1. All calculations shall be performed without rounding.

2. The results of the calculations shall be expressed as follows

a) The fiscal capacity of a denomination (FCD) shall be stated in whole numbers;

b) The fiscal capacity index (FCI) shall be stated with two decimal places.

3. Payments in financial equalization shall be rounded to the nearest hundred francs according to commercial principles.

1. Amounts under 100 francs are neither paid out nor collected.

1. The definition of cantonal organizations of the respective denominations in the law is currently correct.

1. § 4 paragraphs 2 and 3 are not applied to base years according to § 14 that lie before the year in which HRM2 is introduced for the church communities.

1. The Transition from the Previous to the New Financial Compensation System is Represented in the Relevant Comprehensive Balance Sheet.

2. The Relevant Comprehensive Balance Sheet Compares, for Each Parish, the Average of Contributions Received from the Previous Financial Compensation System in the Years 2018 and 2019 with the Contribution or Levy Calculated as the Base Contribution According to § 9 FIAG KG, Taking into Account the Share of All Parishes, After the Application of §§ 10 - 17 FIAG KG, and the Compensation According to §§ 21 and 39 FIAG KG in the New Financial Compensation System.

3. The Difference Resulting from the Comparison pursuant to Paragraph 2 for Each Parish Represents the Improvement or Deterioration According to Formula E of the Appendix to the FIAG KG.

1. For the Roman Catholic denomination

a) the maximum relief limit is: 1 percent;

b) the maximum burden limit is: -1 percent.

2. For the Christian Catholic denomination

a) the maximum relief limit is: 1 percent;

b) the maximum burden limit is: -1 percent.

3. For the Evangelical Reformed denomination

a) the maximum relief limit is: 1 percent;

b) the maximum burden limit is: -1 percent.

4. The adjustment of the percentages listed in paragraphs 1 to 3 pursuant to § 22 remains reserved.

1. The percentages according to § 21 apply for the first year of execution. In the following five years of execution, these are reduced by one-sixth each year.