State: Grant request called a mistake

Grant request called a mistake

Florida TaxWatch itself sought public money - a $230,000 historic preservation grant to pay for its 1800s-era headquarters.

By DIANE RADO

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida TaxWatch held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house in March 1998 to celebrate its new headquarters in a beautiful historic church a few blocks from the Capitol.

Fifteen months later, the private, non-profit organization best known for exposing wasteful spending and special interest projects in the state budget was trying to get taxpayers to help foot the bill for the $400,000 office building.

TaxWatch president Dominic Calabro applied in June 1999 for a $230,000 historic preservation grant for the church building, which dates back to the 1800s. The grants are funded from state tax dollars.

State records show that TaxWatch planned to spend most of the grant -- $190,000 -- to help pay off its loan on the building, rather than for restoration work. TaxWatch planned to get private donations to pay off the rest of the loan.

Why should the public help pay for TaxWatch's new office building?

Calabro said Tuesday his organization misunderstood the grant criteria and made a mistake in trying to get grant money to pay off the loan. For that reason, and because he felt the application wasn't thorough enough, he withdrew the request in September 1999. "I take responsibility for that inaccurate application. Ultimately it is no one's responsibility but my own," Calabro said.

TaxWatch is leaving the door open to reapply for a grant that would be used specifically for restoration work, Calabro said. But the organization would move forward only with full support from its executive committee, its board of trustees and the local community.

"Ultimately there has to be a deep consensus that we should apply," Calabro said.

Up until now, there has been controversy rather than consensus over TaxWatch's application for state tax dollars.

The organization had been housed in a modest office complex before moving to the St. James C.M.E. Church, across from the public library near downtown Tallahassee.

The red-brick Gothic Revival building with stained glass windows and a bell tower has roots back to 1822, when the St. James C.M.E. Church first established its congregation. A permanent foundation of the church structure was laid in 1845, when Florida became a state, according to a TaxWatch account of the building's history.

Today, the church-turned-office-building is filled with plaques and framed newspaper editorials praising TaxWatch's watchdog role over state spending over the past two decades. On display are dozens of reports of the complex tax and spending issues TaxWatch has examined. In the conference rooms sits a stuffed turkey, a prop Calabro uses during annual news conferences that expose budget "turkeys" -- projects that don't go through the proper review or serve only special interests.

Lawmakers that slip projects into the budget for their hometowns brace themselves for the annual turkey list, and Florida's governors rely on TaxWatch's assessments to determine which projects should be vetoed.

So when TaxWatch applied for a historic preservation grant from state tax dollars, state Rep. Marjorie Turnbull, D-Tallahassee, expressed concern about the hypocrisy involved.

"I truly believe it is inappropriate for TaxWatch to be labeling member projects, some of which that are critically needed, as "turkeys," and then submit a competing request for taxpayer dollars . . ." Turnbull wrote in a letter to Calabro in August 1999. She cited several projects TaxWatch had labeled as turkeys that year -- from water and sewer projects to a World War II Veterans Memorial to honor Florida veterans.

This year, TaxWatch's "turkey" list included money for facilities for the mentally retarded and battered women, parks and recreational facilities and environmental projects.

Both Senate President Toni Jennings and House Speaker John Thrasher sent letters of support for TaxWatch's preservation grant in 1999. But neither official knew that TaxWatch planned to spend the money to pay off a loan, spokeswomen for the two leaders said Tuesday.

Calabro said there was disagreement on his own board of trustees about applying for a state grant. "After I withdrew it (the application), a number of board members were pleased," Calabro said. "People have legitimate different points of view."

TaxWatch also applied for a $30,000 historic preservation grant in May 1998 to get money for a new roof for the church. Calabro could not recall much about that application, except that it too was withdrawn.

Robert Taylor, a supervisor in the state's bureau of historic preservation who oversees the grants, said the staff tries to work informally with grant applicants to point out problems.

In TaxWatch's case, the first $30,000 application did not list the appropriate kinds of private contributions required to get state grant money. The $230,000 grant application for a loan payoff would not have been approved, Taylor said, because the state is in the business of restoring property, not reimbursing people for purchases.

"That's something we cannot do," Taylor said.

-- Diane Rado can be reached at rado@sptimes.com