As readers of this blog know, we have taken it upon ourselves to try to get some transparency and accountability out of the folks who run Taste of Park Ridge NFP (“Taste Inc.”), the private corporation that was given an exclusive no-bid, no-contract monopoly on the City’s premier civic event, Taste of Park Ridge (“TOPR”), in June 2005. 

The reason we have undertaken that thankless task is because nobody else at City Hall has stepped forward to do it ever since then-mayor Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark and his Purple Ribbon-wimped City Council gave away TOPR to a group of “volunteers” who were supposed to form a City committee and operate TOPR under the City’s control for the City’s financial benefit.

Within weeks of the Council’s decision, however, those volunteers formed the Taste Inc. corporation and began running TOPR as a private business while reaping the benefits of “free” City services (police, fire and public works) worth as much as $20,000 a year, all while maintaining a level of financial stonewalling that would make the notoriously secret Mars candy family proud: until last year, Taste Inc. never produced any written report to the City, nor did it file the IRS Form 990s that are required of not-for-profits with gross revenues over $25,000

Heck, we’ll bet even the Mars family filed their tax returns! 

The only thing the public knew about Taste Inc.’s finances was that it gave $1,000 to the campaign fund of former Taste Inc.-ster Bob “the Dude” Dudycz, in September 2007, even though a 501(c)(3) organization (which Taste Inc. was at the time) is prohibited from making such political contributions.  And in case you’re wondering, that contribution to The Dude’s campaign wasn’t voluntarily disclosed by Taste Inc. 

Whether that explains why Taste Inc. shut down its 501(c)(3) operation last year and reincorporated a couple weeks later as a 501(c)(6) that can lawfully make political contributions, is anybody’s guess because Taste Inc.’s president Dave Iglow (Pines Men’s Wear), vice-president Albert Galus (Academic Tutoring Centers), treasurer Jim Bruno (Chase Bank), and directors Dean Patras (Broadway Livery Service), Sandy Svizzero (Parkway Bank), Barb Tyksinski (All On The Road Catering) and John Warnimont (Activision Electric) aren’t saying.

But when Taste Inc. finally filed its first-ever Form 990 in March of this year (for 2009), it showed a whopping “profit” of $65,221 on $163,391 of gross revenues for that 3-day event.  Instead of that money going into the City’s coffers like was originally intended back in 2005, however, the money may have ended up in Taste Inc.’s bank account for Taste Inc. to use as it pleases.  

Not surprisingly, the Taste Inc. triumvirate (Iglow, Galus and Bruno) has been stone-cold silent about last year’s profit and whatever additional profit it made from this year’s event.  Silence, especially about Taste Inc.’s and TOPR’s finances, has been their stock in trade, except when they’re verbally patting themselves on the backs or praising all the volunteers who provide the free labor that lets Taste Inc. rake in that kind of cash without having to account for it.

So when Galus crowed to the Park Ridge Journal (“Well That Was Fun!” July 14) about sales at this year’s event being “very good” and stated that he would have a “final number” later that week, we wondered whether Taste Inc. had turned over a new leaf and was going to make itself more transparent and accountable to the taxpayers who pour all that money into Taste Inc.’s coffers. 

Even we can be hopelessly naive sometimes!

Almost three weeks later there still is no “final number” from Taste Inc.  And if Taste Inc. repeats last year’s initial Form 990 filing procedure, we won’t know how much Taste Inc. pocketed from this year’s event, or the total cash it is sitting on, until March 2011 – less than a month before what might be hotly-contested April aldermanic elections.

How many Park Ridge aldermanic seats can a 501(c)(6) corporation buy for $65,000?