There will be a lighting ceremony for the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund Nov. 27, and Kansas Citians will once again be asked to donate to the area's less fortunate.
(That's according to Crown Center's website. The Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund website does not appear to have been updated since last year.)
And if past is prologue, less money than ever will actually make its way to the city's poor, despite Mayor Mark Funkhouser's promise in October, 2007, to "make it bigger."
Federal tax returns show the fund raised $55,436 in 2008/2009, including the holiday season, and then spent $39,582 on 1,466 "grocery store gift cards" for seniors and low-income families. That's $27 per card.
Ten years ago -- 1998/1999 -- the Mayor's Christmas Tree raised $151,532, or roughly three times as much as last year.
And it spent more than four times as much that year: $176,270 on gift cards, toy certificates, fruit baskets, and a party at Children's Mercy Hospital.
Of course, spending more than you take in means you lose money: The fund lost about $41,000 in 1998/1999 once expenses are figured in. Last year the fund lost just $5,592 -- because it is paying out far less than it used to.
And the fund's balance is dropping, too. Ten years ago the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund had almost $209,000 in the bank. Today? $76,432.
The tax returns for the two periods are attached below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| mayor's.pdf | 434.59 KB |
| mayor's1999.pdf | 809.13 KB |
Heart Warming
It's nice to see all the big companies that have made out like bandits with TIF and all the other perks are rushing to share with the citizens of KC.