AMSL Study Forgets Michigan Tax-payer
Sat, Nov25, 2006 - Category: School of
Law
Would Michigan tax-payers please remind Tom Monaghan
of the $16.5 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds
that have benefited his Foundation and law school?
Feasibility - "the capability of being done
or effected easily"
The recently released "revised Feasibility Study" commissioned by the Ave Maria School of Law's governing board is a shockingly superficial and poorly written document. It fails to address the most fundamental question - What exactly is Tom Monaghan's irrevocable financial commitment to AMSL if it stays in Michigan versus uprooting to his private start-up real estate venture in the middle of nowhere, south Florida's tomato fields?
The document has a number of problems, including the disturbing omission of key data concerning AMSL's finances and the State of Michigan.
The consultants paid to write the so-called "study" assert that the school's "mission is not geographically focused", implying no connection to the institution's state of origin (Michigan). This is insulting to the Michigan Catholic and legal-professional communities that have contributed in many ways to AMSL's successful founding. It is also insulting to Michigan tax-payers. In 2001, The Michigan Higher Education Facilities Authority gave AMSL (and thus Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation) a great benefit by approving $16.5 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds. These state-issued bonds were used to repay Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation in the purchase ($7.5 M) and renovation of the law school building. The ABA required that AMSL stop leasing the building from AMF; without a building purchase, AMSL could not obtain accreditation.
The tax payers of Michigan may need to remind Mr. Monaghan, his Foundation, and AMSL that they have all benefited from the use of public bonds from the State of Michigan. It may be worth investigating just how well Monaghan has been able to use Michigan and Florida tax codes to build the non-profits from which he, as Chairman of those same non-profits, derives a direct benefit by (again) controlling his now-tax-exempt wealth.
The recently released "revised Feasibility Study" commissioned by the Ave Maria School of Law's governing board is a shockingly superficial and poorly written document. It fails to address the most fundamental question - What exactly is Tom Monaghan's irrevocable financial commitment to AMSL if it stays in Michigan versus uprooting to his private start-up real estate venture in the middle of nowhere, south Florida's tomato fields?
The document has a number of problems, including the disturbing omission of key data concerning AMSL's finances and the State of Michigan.
The consultants paid to write the so-called "study" assert that the school's "mission is not geographically focused", implying no connection to the institution's state of origin (Michigan). This is insulting to the Michigan Catholic and legal-professional communities that have contributed in many ways to AMSL's successful founding. It is also insulting to Michigan tax-payers. In 2001, The Michigan Higher Education Facilities Authority gave AMSL (and thus Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation) a great benefit by approving $16.5 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds. These state-issued bonds were used to repay Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation in the purchase ($7.5 M) and renovation of the law school building. The ABA required that AMSL stop leasing the building from AMF; without a building purchase, AMSL could not obtain accreditation.
The tax payers of Michigan may need to remind Mr. Monaghan, his Foundation, and AMSL that they have all benefited from the use of public bonds from the State of Michigan. It may be worth investigating just how well Monaghan has been able to use Michigan and Florida tax codes to build the non-profits from which he, as Chairman of those same non-profits, derives a direct benefit by (again) controlling his now-tax-exempt wealth.