| Original Message |
Bro. Harold (no login)
Posted Jun 30, 2009 3:26 PM
CHARLOTTE -- A religious broadcaster is building a $4 million home in a gated, lakefront community in western South Carolina at the same time that the ministry has cut jobs and reset thermostats in its new headquarters.
Inspiration Networks' CEO David Cerullo is building the 9,000-square-foot home on a lot that overlooks Lake Keowee, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday.
Inspiration Networks has drawn scrutiny for up to $26 million in incentives it won from South Carolina to move from Charlotte to Indian Land, S.C., in Lancaster County. The network's revenues are expected to approach $100 million, largely donations from people who are told God favors those who donate. Cerullo has said 80 cents of each dollar that is donated is spent to spread the Gospel.
In addition to laying off workers, the newspaper reported, the ministry froze wages and stopped making contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts. The thermostat on the network's new building was cut to 65 degrees during the winter. A network spokesman did not respond to calls and e-mail messages requesting comment on the house. Cerullo defended his $1.5 million in compensation in a March interview and said he rejected recommendations that he be paid more.
"If they've got these kinds of assets, does the state really need to offer ... tax breaks?" asked Don Weaver, president of the S.C. Association of Taxpayers.
Employees told the newspaper the ministry began laying off some workers late last year.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is investigating the finances of six other televangelists and told The Charlotte Observer that leaders of religious nonprofits should be careful not to use viewers' donations to adopt extravagant lifestyles.
IRS rules bar nonprofits from paying "unreasonable compensation" to officials."Some nonprofit organizations provide compensation usually available only to the top rung of the employee ladder in corporate America," Grassley said in a written statement. "This suggests major flaws in the test for ensuring that executive compensation paid to officers and directors is fair and reasonable."
Pennsylvania resident Gregg Hill donated $5,000 to the network before he was disenchanted with its fundraising. He questions why Cerullo and his wife, who now live in a 12,000-square-foot house in south Charlotte, need such a house."He doesn't need to be living in a $4 million house," Hill said. "There are people who could be helped with that money."
DISGUSTING!
Bro. Harold |
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