Why don't the WTBS tell us the number disfellowshiped/disassociated instead of saying "thousands"?
Why don't they tell us how much money was made in the annual report?
Don't they owe all this to the membership? After all isnt it dedicated funds?
Statistics you will not find in the annual report
by architect 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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slacker911
I would love to know how much they made on real estate in the last five to seven years...especially in the United States. The land Patterson and Walkill is on has to have quadrupled in value in that time frame.
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Quotes
On the subject of Watchtower Real Estate Holdings
I don't know about NY state, or USA in general, but I do know this: here in Ontario (and, I think, the rest of Canuckistan) real estate transactions are in the public record and available freely to all who will do a bit of research.
This means that any curious individual can simply walk into the Land Registry Office for the region or municipality involved, and after jumping through a few hoops and standing in a few lines and viewing a few microfiches, you can see exactly who owns a particular property, how much it was bought for, and the value of the mortgage, if any, and who holds the mortgage (i.e. which bank, individual, or "Organization" has provided the mortgage money).. IIRC you can not see what the present value of the property is, but you can see what it was bought/sold for through it's history. (However, with Market Value Assessment municipal taxes, I wonder if now in Ontario the Market Value is also available from the Land Registry Records).
The hardest part is getting the "Roll Number" or "Pin Number" for the property in question. (The Land Registry Offices still work the way they did in the Middle Ages!) Usually, if you are the home owner, you would just get that number from your tax bill. But if you don't have a tax bill, you have to start with looking up the Roll Number by starting with the Street Address (hence the Microfiche first step).
My suggestion: go to the Land Registry Office in the afternoon, and NOT near the 1st, 15th, or 31st of the month. It will be pretty empty; you won't have to wait long, and the beurocrats will be more forgiving of a dumb "how to" question asked with a smile.
This works for Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, Bethel Factories, etc.
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Quotes
Sorry, I didn't mean to thread hi-jack. I just thougt that, on the subject of stuff WTS does NOT put into their annual report, people may want to know how they can fill in the blanks.
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serendipity
Hi architect,
It's interesting, isn't it, that the local congregations give accounts reports and at the conventions there are reports, but the accountability stops there.
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Bumble Bee
Quotes, I would love to know how much the Bethel Farm on Ontario sold for!
BB
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moomanchu
I know in PA you can look up the tax assesement of property, all you need is the address of the property.
The records in PA are on the county web sites, the web sites give the history of buyers and prices paid.
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aiella
it's a crock of s**t. They read the accounts report at the service meeting because they (Watchtower Society) want you to give more. they read the account statement at asemblies for the same reason...more money...give now. They don't publish the Societies account reports anywhere because all the Bros. & Sis. would know how rich they have become by pretending to be poor and in need.