Castle's tax-exempt status?

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

http://moultonborospeaks.blogspot.com/

Coverage on last night's August 4 Moultonborough selectman debate on the Castle's tax exempt status does not seem to be in any of the local newspapers today? HELLO!.......did anybody attend the selectman's debate in Moultonborough last night?

Audio-video from July 21 meeting: http://moultonborospeaks.blogspot.co...servation.html ..... click on '19:50 of part one' ...

That was a good piece. At issue is approx. $69k in revenue were there to be a status change - about .003% of the town's $22M annual budget.

This would be bad for the Castle in donor relations, too. There was some earlier discussion hereabout questionable expenditures by nonprofits. Donors are turned off by this stuff. Likewise, a donor or donor prospect may reconsider having the knowledge that their gift will possibly used to pay town taxes and not invested in program support. There's the potential that a vicious cycle develops: the nonprofit needs more cash to fund nonprogram expenditures. Donors don't like subsidizing town coffers thru their philanthropic activity. Less revenue comes in, operating costs go up. Oh yeah, and there's the need to maintain the property and do the actual work of preservation. That gets backburnered. Place starts to look shabby and offers less of an experience to visitors. So thru the gate and resturant revenue decreases.

Doubt that it will come to this. Given the historical and present relationship with Bald Peak, I gotta think that the town of M'boro would be in for one helluva fight if they poke that hornet's nest too hard.

From the article, there seems to be a gracious way to address this:

I would like to see the Castle Preservation Society offer taxpayers of Moultonboro free access to the facilities, and discounts on the services offered, as a way to demonstrate good faith towards the community that supports it. I think that's a fair compromise.
The discussion will continue at the Thursday August 4th BoS meeting scheduled for 7pm at Town Hall.

A lot of museums offer free or very deeply-discounted admissions to residents of the town they're in. Keeps things cordial. I don't live or have any real estate in M'boro, so I have nothing to gain other than seeing everybody get along.

The management there is pretty marketing savvy, take PR seriously, and is probably aware of this discusssion. As an area resident and a lover of history and preservation efforts, maybe they'll kindly take my humble comments (actually just a repost of someone else's idears) under advisement.

[fatlazyless]

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/story...-castle-clouds

"All Walks and Talks are free with grounds pass purchased at the main gate. Participation is limited, to be sure of a spot, arrive early."

So, what's the price, if I want to see this on Friday at 5:30? Anybody know how much this will cost to get in at the main gate?

It looks like it will cost me fifteen dollars to get in at the main gate, looking at www.castleintheclouds.org: Visit the Castle: Visitor Information.


"The Castle in the Clouds is a non-profit business; all donations, and Castle business revenues remaining at the end of an operating year, go toward the maintenance of the property and restoration of the nearly 100 year old Arts and Crafts building."

..................

Today's August 24, 2011 http://www.concordmonitor.com/articl...ch-up-for-sale... is somewhat similar to the situation between The Castle in the Clouds and Town of Moultonborough because it is about the City of Concord trying to deny property tax-exempt status to an existing church www.libertyaog.org/.

The Church lost quite a bit of its' tax exempt status and has now placed the building(s) and land up for sale for $650,000, asking price which includes 26-acres (?) in Concord, which are currently assessed for one million dollars, according to the Concord Monitor. (Not sure if all 26 acres is included?)

Like wow.....this is an incredibly interesting news item, about Concord vs. the Destiny Christian Church, don't you think.....holy smokes! ..

[baja-mama]

We were just there on Sunday. The entrance gate has a sign that shows 15.00 for adults to view the Castle. But also listed is 5.00 for a grounds only pass

[SIKSUKR]

Go in by the bottling plant and pay nothing though you might not be able to join the walks and talks legaly but knowing how frugal and resourcefull you are,I could see you tagging along right behind the group.Hey,bring your loaded broom and fake like your cleaning behind them!