Fundraising sweetens their pot

BY ELIZABETH MOORE | STAFF WRITER

November 16, 2005

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For years, when Centerport's volunteer firefighters came around on their annual fund drive, Ann Fahlbusch says she wrote out checks of $100 or more, happy to support a vital community service.

But when Fahlbusch joined the department five years ago, she was startled to find where her donated dollars had been going. They went to the gun, baseball and fishing clubs, to white-water rafting trips upstate, to the Christmas eggnog party and to barbecues and banquets.

"They said, 'We tell the community as little as possible -- it just causes trouble,' " said Fahlbusch, who quit the department after two years and moved out of state. "I said, 'You guys got $71,000 in the month of December from the community, and you don't think they have a right to know what you use it for?' I gave $100 a year, and I thought I was helping fight a fire."

Social and fringe benefits

It's a common misconception in communities across Long Island where fire department fundraising appeals often don't make clear where donations will go.

Fund-drive money is spent mostly on social and fringe benefits for volunteers, including tropical vacations, parties, takeout for department meetings, sports teams, beer, and extra insurance and death benefits, department records show. In rare instances, it has even gone to campaign contributions and, some volunteers say, strippers. At least some of these expenditures may violate the federal tax code, an Internal Revenue Service spokesman said.

Property taxes cover all spending that is directly related to firefighting, including the cost of equipping and training volunteers and feeding them at emergencies and at annual banquets.

Unlike most other New York not-for-profit groups, volunteer fire departments don't have to file financial disclosure forms with the state attorney general, and only about a fifth of them file required federal tax returns that would allow the public to review how much they raise and how they spend it. Officials with the state firefighters' association say that's merely an oversight by busy people not fully aware of their responsibilities.

Centerport is one of the few departments that does, listing the expenditures Fahlbusch complained about. Department officials say they've nothing to hide.

"We have discussed it with people that ask at their doors," said Brian Mark, Centerport's department president. "We don't lie to the public. That's the last thing we would do."

Some vague appeals

Although no agency tallies donations raised by Long Island's 179 community fire departments, available tax returns and sampling of large departments suggest that most take in more than $25,000 each year, the threshold for filing charitable returns with the IRS.

In 2003, for example, Wantagh's fund drive brought in $233,000; East Meadow collected $171,000; Levittown, $150,000; Merrick, $184,000. None of these departments filed federal returns.

Some departments make plain in their solicitations how the money will be spent.

"While tax dollars pay for equipment, maintenance, dispatchers' salaries, fire hydrant rental and other operating expenses, many activities of the department are dependent on residents' donations," read a recent appeal from the Halesite Fire Department in Huntington. "Donations pay for athletic teams, insurance, death benefits, refreshments and community functions like our Blood Drive each August, the Fire Prevention Week Open House in October, and the Holiday party for fire district children in December."

Other appeals for support, though, are vague.

"We are the first responders to emergencies large and small, your donation makes it possible," read a recent fund drive letter from the West Sayville Fire Department, whose $1.9 million in tax revenue covers the year's expenses.

Some residents are annoyed by the confusion.

"The residents of this community are on the hook for millions for a bond issue to fund a new firehouse," said Dan Gasparek, an East Meadow man who was angered by repeated solicitations. "Where is this money going? ... For fire equipment? For big-screen TVs for the lounges inside the firehouse? For fishing trips? That's the question."

Keeping them happy