As the fund-raising campaign toward a new base and plaza for Alki's Statue of Liberty restarts, there's concern about how much money has been raised and how much more needs to be.

People at a recent evening meeting held outdoors on the Alki promenade at the statue site worried when no one seemed to know how many commemorative brick pavers have been sold.

Northwest Programs for the Arts offered 6,000 commemorative bricks for sale. A small brick (4 inches by 8 inches) cost $100 and a larger, sandblasted brick (8 inches by 8 inches) has been sold for $250. Businesses and organizations could buy bricks with their logo inscribed for $600

About 400 commemorative bricks have been sold, said Holly Santos, development director for Northwest Programs for the Arts, in a follow-up interview the day after the meeting. She and the new director, Ezra Graziano, joined Northwest Programs for the Arts in March.

The latest estimated cost of the base and plaza projects is approximately $135,000, said Matt Hutchins, an architect who's donated many hours toward design of the project.

Northwest Programs for the Arts kept a record of who purchased each brick, what is to be inscribed on each, and the amount of each donation, Santos said. The information is kept in a database and reported by e-mail to Seattle Parks and Recreation, the department in charge of city parks.

Seattle Parks and Recreation checks the wording of each brick inscription because the department has a policy banning bricks inscribed with the words "In loving memory of ...," said Dewey Potter, department spokeswoman.

"It creeps people out," she said. An acceptable inscription would be "John Smith loved Seattle parks," she added. However the city parks department keeps no records on donations to the project.

Beside money from the sale of inscribed bricks, Northwest Programs for the Arts received about $30,000 in matching grants from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Money collected from brick sales was not placed in an escrow account, where it could be used only for a specific purpose such as commemorative bricks, Santos said. So some of the money was used to pay overhead expenses incurred by Northwest Programs for the Arts.

For example, the organization paid for brochures to publicize the fund-raising effort. Northwest Programs for the Arts also paid to transport the original Statue of Liberty to The Bronze Works foundry in Tacoma.

Meanwhile Northwest Programs for the Arts moved into cheaper office space to save money.

Northwest Programs for the Arts began raising money to make a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty at Alki Beach in 2000. A few years later it began thinking of a new base and plaza.

Using donated money to pay for overhead as well as this way is common practice and part of the normal ebb and flow of money in and out of nonprofit organizations, Santos said. Northwest Programs for the Arts will be able to pay for all of the commemorative bricks people ordered when it's time to install them, she said.

"There is plenty of money in the bank to cover the bricks," Santos said. "There's not a scandal here."

It is common for money to flow in and out of nonprofit organizations at different rates, said Kristin Alexander, a spokeswoman for the Washington Attorney General's office. Problems arise if the fundraiser promises one thing and delivers another.

State government doesn't regulate how nonprofit organizations operate, said Tabatha Blacksmith from the Washington Secretary of State's office. Generally the state concerns itself only if deceptive fundraising techniques are involved.

A man at the July 11 meeting on the Alki promenade wondered why the new bronze Statue of Liberty couldn't be installed atop the existing pedestal.

Because people in the community have already voted to replace the statue and create a new plaza for it, not to mention donated money for the project, said Paul Carr. He and his wife, Libby, are leading the new fund-raising effort.

Another reason to continue is a new pedestal would reduce the statue's vulnerability to vandals, he said. The new statue base would be a bit taller and more difficult to climb.

Lastly, the new pedestal would look better, Carr said.

An informal, hand-raised vote taken during the meeting indicated 22 people wanted to proceed with fundraising for a new plaza while two people preferred putting the new statue atop the old pedestal. About 35 people attended the meeting.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at timstc@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.