BARC official invites scrutiny
As far as this negative letter writing campaign is concerned, this is my final word on the facts about Brownsville and the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corp. I encourage anyone from the public to come into the BARC offices, personally write me a letter, or e-mail to ask me any question pertaining to the workings of BARC.
I will gladly provide any information needed to let you judge yourself the sincere dedication that this organization has for community revitalization and growth.
Please visit our Web site at www.barcpa.org
to view the factual makeup of our board, our mission and projects.
No amount of logic or reasoning will change the viewpoint or agenda of negativity brought forth by those that refuse to research or to base their accusations on facts.
I just advise all readers to check accusations thoroughly before believing any future derogatory statements.
Here are some facts:
– Organizations termed as non-profit do not pay income tax to the federal government because any proceeds are put back into the mission of the organization. There is no income at the end of the year; hence, the term non-profit. BARC is a non-profit.
– BARC does pay property tax that indeed helps the borough, the county and the school district. The facts are that since 1999, BARC has paid $31,604.25 in property taxes alone. (What was that quote about liars and figures?)
– BARC has had audits done annually by an independent certified public accountant since we became incorporated. Grantors require copies of audits in order to prove eligibility and past lawful use of expenditures. Brownsville Borough council received a copy of our latest audit in December.
– I will address the Odd Fellow grant one final time. A grant application must coincide with the money spent and cancelled checks must be sent to the grantor.
Unless the initial grant had been written for that purpose, it would not have been possible to give $50,000 to the borough any more than it would have been for the school director who criticizes us to give her $280,000 to the borough to help their finances. The BARC grant money was written for the renovation of a building, not for housing an office in an existing space.
I refer readers again to the undisputable facts listed above. It would be superfluous to use poetic license or to skew those facts to prove my point.
What was the question again? “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”
Finally, we at BARC do not think, “Brownsville is just fine.” (The fact that she took my words out of context proves her inability to grasp the true meaning of my statement. This is simply sad, not laughable.)
If Brownsville was fine, there would be no need for BARC, and that is exactly our hope: We can’t wait for the day when we can close our doors permanently.
Our approach is to initiate various projects that move this town forward with the dignity and effort that Brownsville deserves. We want to have set up programs with lasting, long-term effects – some will work, others not, but in the end we will have tried -and not just sung out bitter songs of woe, lethargy and fault.
I will not respond to any future negative comments because the mentality of those attacking individuals will not change, regardless of any facts presented.
They will continue to ridicule what they cannot understand because they are on a mission to destroy based on hatred.
I begrudgingly accept this. I ask that the rest of you please contact me with your concerns or questions.
Alison Carroll-McConnell is executive director of the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation.