Comments on: Where the Money Goes – TRAVEL & DINING

By: TomP

TomP — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:22:25 +0000

Reddog: How do you know there are expenses in dining and travel that don’t belong there? Can you elaborate?

By: Mytownaswellasyours

Mytownaswellasyours — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:27:36 +0000

Right on, Taxhawk!! In fact, the chamber is a non-profit –
Otherwise, no problem.

By: taxhawk

taxhawk — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:19:36 +0000

Who cares how much of this was “reimbursed” and who cares whether it was for extravagant travel or not. The chamber has a right to do whatever they want with their own private donations. That is between the Chamber Leadership, Its Board, and Its Members. It doesn’t matter if the travel was earned as a commission or not. The chamber is a PRIVATE organization and can spend dollars however it chooses.

What it CANNOT do, is spend tax dollars without accountability.

Easy solution. No more tax dollars to the chamber….and the chamber spends its private funds however they darn well please.

By: 177K

177K — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:40:08 +0000

See even more what the Chamber has done for us! Amazing!

http://jonah-m-tebbetts.blogspot.com/2009/11/chickendale-cowbirds-chowdown.html

By: scottws

scottws — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:31:59 +0000

I detect the sound of crickets……

By: scottws

scottws — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:09:54 +0000

So, a portion of the 93K+ was repaid to the chamber?

By: reddog

reddog — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:35:56 +0000

My dog in this hunt is that I actually am a concerned citizen of Springdale, which I more than I can say for Mrs. Davis…She lives in Fayetteville. I guess that makes her a concerned citizen of Fayetteville working on behalf of, and most likely getting paid by, a citizen of Springdale. Three guesses who that is!
As for my connection to the chamber, I am a member and a donor. As such it does not upset me at all if they reward some volunteers with points for helping with fundraising as opposed to hiring full time people to do the same. It makes good business sense to me.
Finally, I did inquire about to the chamber about the trips and while they paid for them the points the volunteers earned only paid for a porion of their cost and they reimbursed the chamber for the remaining part. Unless you look at the revenue side, not just the expense side, it is very misleading.

By: scottws

scottws — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:54:27 +0000

Nice try. Not hundreds of business leaders – just the goofs running the chamber.
I didn’t notice “hundreds of business leaders” benefiting from the almost $94,000 in travel expenses. They’re the ones whose donations sent Mullikin and Webb on exotic jaunts. When they called around for money, did they say “Your donation will send Randy and his family to Hawaii?”
P.S. – “Do you have a dog in this hunt?” = what is your connection to the chamber?

By: reddog

reddog — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:33:22 +0000

If throwing the BS flag on bunch of trumpted up allogations is defending the chamber, then that is exactly what I am doing. Lets call this what it really is, a personal attack by Mrs Davis and very few friends, on the chamber leader. In the meantime she is challenging the integrity of the hundreds of business leaders in this community that volunteer countless hours working on Springdales behalf…..for free! You think you are pissed, some of them are over the top mad…..and they too have very broad shoulders!

By: scottws

scottws — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:26:52 +0000

Cast the first stone – what? Are you defending the chamber and the way they have handled this? Seems like you’re just quibbling.
I’m not a chamber member. Do you have a dog in this hunt?

By: RedDog

RedDog — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:24:31 +0000

be careful casting the first stone, it is my understanding that the firm which made these recommendations represented the chamber for most of the years in this compilation and he set up the accounting system that they still use today.
Also the letter clearly states it is just an opinion based information provided to him in the form you see here(which I have already pointed out is flawed), not an audit based on a review of the actual material or the chambers books.

By: scottws

scottws — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:25:13 +0000

Maybe not, but check the audit letter. Shoddy bookkeeping, no accountability. YOU may not be concerned, reddog, but I know for a fact there are chamber members who are PISSED. They give money assuming it will benefit the general business community, then find out it’s been sending people on cruises.

By: RedDog

RedDog — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:02:28 +0000

Thank You, I can assume after looking at these compilations they must have been done by your staff, because they do not appear to be in ledger or account form. There are for example expenses in Travel that are not travel, and expenses in Dining that are not dining, etc.. But regardless of that, it appears there are significant revenue to offset the majority of the expenses. Heck it appears the Board even pays them back for their lunch at meetings.
With that said, I see nothing on either the revenue or expenses sides that I feel I would not see in any other chamber financials in the country, much less NW Arkansas.

By: Springdalefoi

Springdalefoi — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:24:33 +0000

At the very top of the page you will see bank statements, media articles, entertainment, misc and financial.

By: scottws

scottws — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:02:37 +0000

‘Posted under the financials tab’? Link?

By: Springdalefoi

Springdalefoi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:41:40 +0000

Income statements as provided by the Chamber are posted under the financials tab. Shame on you.

By: RedDog

RedDog — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:33:04 +0000

I tried, as you suggest above, to determine how I feel about these expenses but you have only compiled categories of expenses. Where are the revenues and reimbursements that offset the expense side of the ledger? It is not possible to determine they are “legitimate” without that information.
Shame on you

By: Cubic

Cubic — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Remember when the city had piles of post ice-storm crap in their yard for weeks and weeks?