Monday, July 14, 2008

The Tradewinds Are Blowing . . .

Barely a week after the Observer-Dispatch complained that Utica's proposal to charge user fees would hurt Not For Profit (NFP) organizations, we see a Guest Column, a "Special to the Observer-Dispatch" singing the accolades of Upstate Cerebral Palsy’s Tradewinds Program. The Guest wrote:
My daughter has just graduated from this program. Every year, these special individuals give these special kids a chance to attend a prom. Limos, formal clothing and a wonderful dinner is donated by local merchants. They have a grand march, where each child is announced by name. Deejay music and dancing fill the cleverly decorated gym . . .
Is the timing of this editorial coincidence? Or is the OD trying to manipulate public sentiment, engendering sympathy for NFPs and opposition to the user fee proposal (not that the proposal does not have significant flaws)?

What we don't get from the OD is any reporting about what Tradewinds is.

A visit to Guidestar.org indicates that there is a Tradewinds Foundation, Inc., with a New Hartford mailing address, that provides
programs for handicapped and developmentally challenged individuals (primarily youths) and at-risk children, located in New York State, Florida, California and Maryland. The Charity's programs consisted of developmental activities for children and adults in need of special training . . .
The 2006 Federal Form 990 is interesting reading. According to the 990 on pages 35 and 39/44, the purpose of the foundation was to support various programs of United Cerebral Palsy and another NFP that work with children and adults, including the Tradewinds Special Education Center in Utica. I say "was" because further reading indicates that the organization was winding down operations (which involved boating operations of some sort). Officer compensation "from related organizations" was $322,694 for one officer, $112,347 for another, $53,099 for a third (the last figure still more than double the income of the median household in Utica, p. 23-4/44).

Not bad for officers of "charitable" organizations. Of course, these people I'm sure do much more than put on proms, because they are involved with related interlocking organizations that do many other things . . . but with such generous compensation packages, one has to wonder why such organizations would not be able to pay fees to Utica to clear the snow or repair the sidewalks at their Utica facilities.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know Strike, if we could only get the funds to mass produce your reports and have them circulated to every home and business in Oneida County. Then we may have some hope of getting the people to make some changes.

But I still doubt it. I'm beggining to think that more people than I thought already know what's wrong, but considering that the vast majority of jobs around here are government and NFP jobs, they don't want it to change.

So, if educating the public - about what they don't care about - won't work; then what will? What is our next stradegy?

Keep up the good work.

Jr.

Anonymous said...

it also seems you are quite on the recent story about a utica resident sueing the city and a NFP in Utica whit respect to zoning issues?

swimmy said...

What are the significant flaws of the fee proposal?

Utica already has several fees that one would think is covered by taxes. Perhaps if the city funded itself by fees alone taxes would go down and the government would be forced to do what it has refused to do, shrink to a size proportional to the shrinking population. That's just my two cents.

The USPTO is self-sufficient, so is the USPS. No tax dollars go to either agency.

I agree with the rest of your post. I'm just curious what the flaws can be, all I can see are benefits.

Strikeslip said...

Anon -- Yes, I did not comment on that story (too many stories, too little time), but I view the situation as similar to what is going on in the Mills . . . the law is the law for everyone . . . it is either followed and enforced . . . or changed.

Swimmy -- One flaw is how are the fees to be assessed -- will they cover costs and will they be fair? The biggie, for me, however, is the idea of using fees to get around taxes. The fees are really "taxes" by another name -- just calculated differently -- and as a tax substitute, it will make it much easier for the city to waste money raise taxes some more. Compare the city's fee proposal to the STAR program for schools. STAR was supposed to give everyone a break -- instead, it encouraged school districts to spend more!

Anonymous said...

I'm not an accountant, but it would appear from the linked document that the officers and directors compensation from Tradewinds is $0. The dollars referenced are from their "day jobs" at Associated Textiles. They may be well compensated by Associated Textiles but why does that lead to Tradewinds having ample funds to pay to Utica.
I may have missed it but what "Utica facilities" does Tradewinds have?

Anonymous said...

Used to do work for Tradewinds. They had people donate yachts to them and Tradewinds would in turn sell them for $$$. Not sure if they still do that but that was done in the past.

Strikeslip said...

What do yachts have to do with disabled people?

Anonymous said...

Dunno Strike. Like I said I used to do work for them and the people they gave accolades to were people who donated yachts to Tradewinds.