Guest Post by “Shine Some Light”

Disclaimer: The content of the guest contribution is the opinion of the guest and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the management of Moonhowlings.com.

 

The Great Wartime Taxpayer Heist

 

Taxpayers might not be aware but the Wartime Museum has filed for an extension on their Form 990 and it won’t be due until March 31. Form 990 is the annual tax return filed by non-profit organizations. They are public information and available for public inspection once filed. However, they are asking for more taxpayer money even though we have not had an opportunity to assess their recent performance.

Here are some facts about the Wartime Museum. The deal struck by the Wartime Museum and Board transferred ownership of the land from the Hyltons to the non-profit entity. This was undevelopable land that the Hyltons were paying real estate tax on. The deal also gave the Hyltons valuable development rights elsewhere in the County. Great “generosity,” right? Relieved of tax payments and obtain development rights elsewhere while portraying yourself as making a generous gift to the community. Several supervisors received generous campaign donations from Hylton sources.

Prior to getting Board approval of the deal, the Wartime Museum’s leadership was stating that total development costs would be $50 million. After approval, the price tag went up to $100 million with no explanation.

In  their last Form 990 over a year ago, they show less than a $1 million of real assets, and about $3 million of dubious pledges and promises. They raised less than $30,000. Nonetheless, they continued paying their CEO about one-quarter million per year in salary and benefits.

Now, they are asking for another $1 million of taxpayer dollars to paid over five years.

The Wartime Museum’s leadership and their supporters on the Board of Supervisors are cloaking themselves in the mantel of patriotism to pull off this scam. Oppose them, and you are anti-American and anti-veteran.

 It’s time to say “NO” in bold voices to more taxpayer rip-offs. Prince William County taxpayers should demand that no more of their money go to this group, especially when they won’t even let us see their public tax return from last year so we can assess how they’ve done raising private money. County taxpayers have already given them three-quarters of a million, most handed over even before the Board approved the project. Remember that the Wartime Museum promised to complete the project with private funds anyway, even though they are back at the taxpayer trough with their hands out again.

 It’s not unpatriotic to blow the whistle when a thief is picking your pocket.

 

 

 

 

20 Thoughts to “The Great Wartime Taxpayer Heist”

  1. Bob

    This is a fantastic piece and great example of reporting!! I read this in the budget presentation a few weeks ago and laughed…this is NOT a real museum that will ever happen. It will be much like the Virginia War Museum…which was a private museum and then the City of Newport News had to take it over and it has become an albatross to the City’s budget. There are plenty of good museums in this area, some private and some govt. funded. This should be a private museum ONLY….especially in this time of economic tightness AND considering the County already has its own museum system established…I am sure they would love additional funds to support their programs.

  2. If the county taxpayers have already shelled out 3/4 of a million for this tank graveyard, then that is more than enough. It is unneeded.

    I see no reason for the tax payers to support this bloated pipe dream. Send the Hyltons the bill. Watch them run.

    Doesn’t that director, Mr. Stewart, make a huge salary? Why is PWC still paying anything?

  3. Second Alamo

    So………..I take it you won’t be at the dedication ceremony?

  4. Need to Know

    Good article, but it misses one key point. The Wartime Museum is riddled with conflicts of interest that go beyond Hylton campaign contributions to members of the Board of Supervisors.

    Have a look at “Tanks to Go,” aka Chaffee Associates:

    http://www.tankstogo.com/for_sale/sale.htm

    Who is behind Chaffee Associates? None other than Allan Cors, the same man who is the Chairman of the Wartime Museum’s Board of Trustees. Check out the Wartime Museum’s website. It’s at nmaw and org – I’ll get dumped into moderation if I link two websites. Chaffee Associates is a for-profit company operated by Mr. Cors that deals in used tanks and other military equipment, and in providing equipment and sites for filming military-related scenes. No where on the Wartime Museum website does Mr. Cors disclose his relationship to Chaffee Associates. He identifies himself as a “Public Affairs Consultant.”

    Watch the video on the front page of the Wartime Museum’s website. Much of it was filmed at Mr. Cors’ tank farm in Nokesville, aka Chaffee Associates.

    The article above has already pointed out that the Wartime Museum has been paying its CEO about one-quarter million dollars per year despite a dismal failure to raise private funds as reported in the most recent available Form 990.

    Taxpayers – you are about to get the Board of Supervisors special $1 million treatment once again. I’ll leave what that is to your imagination because I want what I write here to be family-friendly.

  5. Need to Know

    I have to add one more thing. Republicans, among whom I count myself, are struggling with the perception that they favor tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of the middle-class. Generally, this is an unfair criticism but episodes such as this Wartime Museum nonsense don’t help our case.

    Our Republican-led Board of County Supervisors, with Democratic support, approved a deal that let the Hyltons off the hook for a huge real estate tax obligation on that land, and transferred the land to a non-taxable entity. That revenue loss has to be made up by somebody and as always it will be those of us in the middle-class and working people who will pay.

    To rub salt in our wounds, the same group of people benefiting from this scheme keeps coming back to the Board with their hands out for more taxpayer money.

    On principle, this whole thing stinks. From the perspective of a life-long Republican I must say to the Republican members of the Board – you aren’t helping your Party with stunts like this.

  6. @Second Alamo

    Do you want you tax dollars going to this? Why should the county be helping with the tab?

  7. Mom

    Second Alamo :So………..I take it you won’t be at the dedication ceremony?

    Do you really want to see Marty riding around with his head sticking out of the turret, all I can picture is the Duakakis tank ad, just worse.

  8. Snicker…that is funny. Image now branded on the brain….. Except I see Corey…

  9. Lafayette

    I see Mom had her usual Razor Soup for breakfast today. 👿

  10. Cindy B

    I was asking about the museum the other day and was told Mr. Stewart is no longer with the effort. He’s not listed as a contact at nmaw.org, but is at americansatwartime.net.

    I had hoped the “corridor of history” would lead from the National Museum of the Marine Corps, up 234 to the Freedom Museum at Manassas Regional Airport, and on to the National Manassas Battlefield. That would have made more sense to me, to keep tourists in PWC for the length of the county.

    BTW, there’s going to be a great Airshow and Open House at the airport on Sat. May 12 from 10 to 4pm presented by the Manassas Airport Regional Business Alliance (MARBA) – details at http://www.marballc.com/2012airshow.html. Day starts with a 10K/5K run at 7:30 am on the taxiway.

  11. Craig Stewart III is still listed under the leadership.

    In looking over all those names, some of them are very wealthy. Glancing at the officers and the board of directors, there is enough money there to float the entire US Fleet. The list seems heavy on people involved in finance. Let them go out and do the arm twisting.

    I am not against this museum. I am against PWC PAYING for this museum or
    putting any large sums of money into it. Moreover, we will pay for it 3 times. The State of Virginia has already put in a million dollars. The feds have put in a bunch of money and we have put in nearly a million.

    We need to know finances and documented progress before one more nickle goes into this project. Lafayette, how is that new camera? Can it go get some pictures of the progress?

    Between the new WWII Memorial, the Quantico Museum you have to wonder what else we need or how much of this is overkill. Some of these private museums/memorials with a real purpose have difficulty staying afloat. The D-Day Memorial in Bedford is always in serious trouble. It relies on donors and visitors. How will this be different? Someone mentioned the War Museum in Newport News. That is a fabulous museum. I went there about 20 years ago. However….now its in financial trouble.

    I am very sorry the county got duped into getting up to its eyeballs on this one. It was an emotional decision, not one based on sound financial judgement.

  12. Mom

    ” It was an emotional decision, not one based on sound financial judgement.”

    It was anything but an emotional decision, it was a calculated political payoff and tradeoff of bad land for better development rights on other parcels owned by Hylton. We don’t even want to go into the environmental issues it will create.

    1. Ok Ok Ok….@MoM

      For lots of supporters, it was an emotional decision. I will leave the draconian payoffs and tradeoffs to you all mainly because I am not privy to them. I wish you all would enlighten the rest of us in more detail.

  13. Mom

    As I recall, the site of museum was severely limited in its potential for development do to its location, zoning and RPAs. Hylton in essence traded the property for the right to develop several other parcels at higher densities (making a silk purse out of sow’s ear). Ordinarily it would have required applications for rezoning or waivers of some sort but the process was waived as a result of his generous offer of otherwise worthless swampland. As it turns out, the county waived most if not all of the environmental requirements for the museum parcel as the benefits of the museum outweighed those pesky environmental issues.

    1. There is lots of property over my way built on a flood plane. I can’t blame this group of supervisors but I sure can say it is the Prince William County way.

  14. Lafayette

    @Moon-howler
    Ah, that bad boys doin’ just fine. I think it needs to get some more pictures from the lower end. I have some very nice pix from the Marine Corps Museum. I LOVE that place. This tank farse of farm will never be of that caliber or even that of the little City of Manassas Museum.
    Perhaps, a field trip is in order for the weekend. (not to be confused with “POINT OF ORDER, POINT OF ORDER!!”) Just had to bring that classic line out of the “archives”. 🙂

  15. Lafayette

    Moon-howler :There is lots of property over my way built on a flood plane. I can’t blame this group of supervisors but I sure can say it is the Prince William County way.

    How many decades has the Flat Branch Project been going on now? Oh, that’s right for as long as I can remember. 👿

    1. Well, Anges was pretty much right after your birth. You were still a toddler I feel certain. My kids weren’t born.

      I lived over in the Hell Hole which wasn’t a hell hole then.

  16. Lafayette

    I was all of 4yo when she rolled threw. I do remember it like yesterday though. We had family in the townhouses by BenLomond.

    Checkout open thread.

  17. Bob

    For whoever said this is overkill….BINGO! So many museums like this already exist! Go up to Carlyle PA to see that museum, same as this one…sit empty outside. Big boondoggle…the US Army Museum may never be built…the corridor of war is only the angered motorists on 95. It is a joke that Hylton, who has given us beautiful Dale City, is treated like a King around here….this is why PWC is viewed the way it is…backwards

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