Jack Terrell
12-04-2009, 02:21 PM
I tend not to post information in response to irresponsible and inaccurate claims thrown around during an FTR election, but I believe that several things need to be stated to set the record straight in regard to the land use fund and land use expenditures.
First, at no time did Jack Terrell or anyone who supported the $5 dues increase approved by the Board of Directors and the General Membership in 1997 claim that FTR Land Use funds would be used to purchase land for FTR. It seems whenever someone wants to discredit land use activities they always dredge up that non-fact. The fund was designed to pay for lobbyists, provide matching funds for projects that improved OHV recreation opportunities in Florida, to pay expenses of FTR representatives who appeared before the State Legislature, public meetings, and served on a continuing basis on government agencies that impacted OHV recreation opportunities in Florida. Furthermore, the $5 dues increase was not intended as money that the Executive Committee could dip into to pay non-land use expenses.
There also has been a variety of claims about “all the money” paid to Techni-Quip and your Land Use Chairman. Let’s look at the numbers rather than depending on numbers selectively bandied about by those who want to discredit land use activities. FTR financial records reveal that FTR paid out $10,941.28 to Techni-Quip, Inc., a company that Jack Terrell owns. And what was this for? A slush fund for Jack as charged by some? No, over a four year period it was $3300 related to services for administering and managing the Croom RTP projects and $7641.28 for services and mileage reimbursement for attending government meetings related to OHV recreation projects directly affecting FTR and FTR members.
So let’s look at these two categories. FTR paid out $3300 to Techni-Quip for services on the Croom projects, but according to FTR records FTR received $8426.83 in net revenue directly related to Jack’s work on these projects. The FTR land use fund came out $5126.83 ahead on that deal.
The second category has $7641.28 in expenses. What was that for? It was for 339 hours of services and travel expenses. If we do not count the IRS-approved mileage reimbursement included in the $7641.28, FTR was billed approximately $6000.00 for the services. Divide that by 339 hours involved and the rate was $17.70 an hour, a bargain rate regardless how you look at it. It was for 25 meetings. During that same period Jack attended a total of 52 meetings for FTR. FTR got the additional 27 meetings at no charge.
For those of you who want to look at the bottom line, if you take the $7641.28 in expenses in the second category and subtract the $5126.83 that FTR came out ahead on the first category, the bottom line cost to FTR was $2514.45 over a 4 year period. It works out to be $7.42 per hour billed, and that is without factoring in the hours for the other 27 meetings that were provided at no charge to FTR.
So now you have the facts on what was spent.
First, at no time did Jack Terrell or anyone who supported the $5 dues increase approved by the Board of Directors and the General Membership in 1997 claim that FTR Land Use funds would be used to purchase land for FTR. It seems whenever someone wants to discredit land use activities they always dredge up that non-fact. The fund was designed to pay for lobbyists, provide matching funds for projects that improved OHV recreation opportunities in Florida, to pay expenses of FTR representatives who appeared before the State Legislature, public meetings, and served on a continuing basis on government agencies that impacted OHV recreation opportunities in Florida. Furthermore, the $5 dues increase was not intended as money that the Executive Committee could dip into to pay non-land use expenses.
There also has been a variety of claims about “all the money” paid to Techni-Quip and your Land Use Chairman. Let’s look at the numbers rather than depending on numbers selectively bandied about by those who want to discredit land use activities. FTR financial records reveal that FTR paid out $10,941.28 to Techni-Quip, Inc., a company that Jack Terrell owns. And what was this for? A slush fund for Jack as charged by some? No, over a four year period it was $3300 related to services for administering and managing the Croom RTP projects and $7641.28 for services and mileage reimbursement for attending government meetings related to OHV recreation projects directly affecting FTR and FTR members.
So let’s look at these two categories. FTR paid out $3300 to Techni-Quip for services on the Croom projects, but according to FTR records FTR received $8426.83 in net revenue directly related to Jack’s work on these projects. The FTR land use fund came out $5126.83 ahead on that deal.
The second category has $7641.28 in expenses. What was that for? It was for 339 hours of services and travel expenses. If we do not count the IRS-approved mileage reimbursement included in the $7641.28, FTR was billed approximately $6000.00 for the services. Divide that by 339 hours involved and the rate was $17.70 an hour, a bargain rate regardless how you look at it. It was for 25 meetings. During that same period Jack attended a total of 52 meetings for FTR. FTR got the additional 27 meetings at no charge.
For those of you who want to look at the bottom line, if you take the $7641.28 in expenses in the second category and subtract the $5126.83 that FTR came out ahead on the first category, the bottom line cost to FTR was $2514.45 over a 4 year period. It works out to be $7.42 per hour billed, and that is without factoring in the hours for the other 27 meetings that were provided at no charge to FTR.
So now you have the facts on what was spent.