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Community Corner

Donating to Rye PBA? I would think twice about doing so.

According to IRS 990 tax forms, in 2012 the Rye PBA took in only $31,185 in membership dues yet spent $160,188 in 2012.

How is this possible?

They took in another $174,694 in donations from the public for a total of $205,879.

So how did they spend this money:

$49,391 in legal fees. (That's $18,206 more than their members paid in dues just to cover the PBA's legal fees).

$48,864 for fund raising events.

$4,240 to Compagnone as salary.

$20,403 in "other" expenses including $6,000 for rent, $6,000 for dues and subscriptions and $3,949 for members meetings.

Not so coincidentally, $6,000 is the same amout members receive from the Rye PBA when they retire so perhaps this was a mistake or perhaps done intentionally to preserve their 501 (c)(3) Tax Exempt status because the IRS may forbid this type of payment of benefits to their members.

Just taking into account the expenses of legal fees of $49,391, Compagnones salary of $4,240 and "other" expenses of $20,403, this totals $74,304. This alone is $42,849 more than their members paid in dues in 2012.

Amazingly, only $22,677 from a total of $205,879 went to donations and scholarships. This is a mere 11% of their total receipts.

The Rye PBA has taken in $731,115 since 2009,  but since they have not made their 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 IRS 990 tax filings available, as per their tax exempt status, there is no way to see how this money was spent.

Were there any more $10,000 or so boat cruises around Manhattan during these years?

As far as their 2012 IRS 990 filing, there are other blatant factual inaccuracies contained in the filing.

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