I recall a major renovation at my last hall. It was shared by 3 congregations, and they worked for some time to save the money to do it. The project included making the hall wheelchair accessible, as there were many elderly and handicapped people in it. At any given meeting there would be 7-10 people tied in by phone because they couldn't get into the hall.
Enter the regional building committee.
The RBC decided to nix the part of the project to make the hall wheelchair accessible, even though the bulk of the money donated came from the elderly and handicapped. Not one cent was borrowed from the WTS or anyone else. I know who donated how much because I was the account servant at the time. Some of those who donated money did so primarily for the wheelchair accessibility. These were people who were never at the hall because it was physically inaccessible to them.
Instead they spent all the money, over $125,000, on new chairs, wallpaper, and moving the washrooms around so the elders could have another meeting room where they could comfortably spew their shit. They also made the staircase to the main hall more narrow, and closed up the open space in the entrance to the main hall making the hall feel much more confined.
I asked the elders why they were allowing the RBC to run roughshod over them, since the hall was supposedly owned by our neighbouring congregation, and all the money donated by the publishers™ without any loans from the watchtower. They had no answer for me, but I think my outspokenness about this was part of the reason for my eventual deletion from that position. (the official reason for my deletion, as spoken to me, was that I was taking part time courses)
I also wonder at the amount of money spent. I did far more extensive renovations on my home, which was about the same size as the hall, for about 20% of what they spent on their renovation.
W