I previously reported on Curley's House of Style on June 12th. Apparently, they saw the post today. It took a while. They say that what I said was money is not money, it is in-kind. So the $772,587 of total assets - that isn't actually money. I will take them at their word. Whatever it is they have, money, in-kind, stock, etc., the fact remains, it all added up to $772,587 of assets on their 2006 tax return. As I said in my original post, I do think they help the community and I do not doubt they do good work. You can read all the comments from the people saying they do good work on my original post, however, their work was not the point of the original post. Also note, I printed a retraction on my original post.
On a separate note, I sound like a broken record, but I would like to see audits of some of these non-profits periodically so we know the real story. Better yet, let people do their own giving. The Commissioners are getting accolades for distributing OUR money to non-profits. One reader defended Audrey Edmonson. Reader: It is all our money, not Audrey's. If we are going to let the Commission and the Mayor (and now the Chair has a separate account of $300,000 besides his Commission account) continue to give our money to non-profits, what is the harm in doing some checking? The forms these charities fill out say there will be random audits by the Inspector General's Office, but the IO office has, in fact, never done one audit of any of the hundreds of charities that get our tax dollars. The County is too loose with our tax money and it has to stop.
5 comments:
We are having exactly the same arguments regarding the diversion of public monies to politically-connected non-profits here in Chicago.
Of course, these not-for-profits, as well as the for-profit business enterprises that are also the recipients of lavish public largesse, are "good for the community". No argument there. Obviously, the communities involved derive massive benefits from the presence of both non-profits and for-profit businesses, but that benefit derives from their function as entities that are privately funded and operated, and don't draw on the public till. The benefit is lost when essential public services and amenities are mulceted to divert the money to such entities.
Additionally, we owe many of our worst neighborhood problems to the proliferation of certain types of non-profits in our ward.
Strange how all localities are grappling with the same problems, that have the same cause, which seem, to me at least, to have the same root cause: OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HAVE TOO MUCH POWER TO DIVERT PUBLIC MONEY AWAY FROM THE CIVIL SERVICES FOR WHICH WE PAY TAXES AND TO THE COFFERS OF THE POLITICALLY CONNECTED.
Is there a way we can, on the national level, start to roll back the state laws and local policies that enable such diversions, such as TIFs and other corporate gimmes? Local services are being deprived of necessary funds, and local governments driven into insolvency, by the constant drain on municipal coffers. We have over 160 TIF districts in the municipality of Chicago alone, not counting the rest of Crook County.
It appears it is exactly the same in Miami-Dade.
This is not a local problem- this is taking place nationwide and is depriving us of the financial wherewithal to offer necessary municipal services at a continued high level and make sure our communities are equipped to deal with growing resource shortages and elevated operating expenses.
Agree with North Coast. Also agree that there should be more accounting for our tax dollars.
I am planning on reviewing the returns of the entire list of non-profits....Curley's just happened to be the one asking for money when I got this list. I have a giant task ahead of me.
I love actvists! They are the ones that are always out there on the line.
In fact, they should be telling us that we should:
Keep the Faith!!!
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says...
'Oh sh*t....you're awake!!'
:-)
Bless you guys!
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