About those non-municipal funds...

To bring any new Lebo Citizen readers up to speed, Mt. Lebanon commissioners made an agreement with the Sports Advisory Board concerning the funding of the toxic turf at Wildcat and Middle Fields. 75% municipal funds and 25% non-municipal funds. The financial proposal was never put in writing in any commission minutes. It was stated in the mtl Magazine article, field fundraising underway, that the non-municipal share would be $250,000, not 25% of the project as originally proposed. Donations were held by the Mt. Lebanon Community Endowment for a small fee. The identity of the donors were never made public.

Earlier this week, Mayor Peduto came under fire when anonymous donations were made on a recent episode of "Undercover Boss."  'Boss' gifts to Pittsburgh employees from Peduto raise questions

“They should disclose the donors to reassure the public that (donors) won't end up getting grants and contracts based on their benevolence.

We know that Gateway Engineers made out well by donating at least $4,000 to the turf project. That's for another post. Stay tuned.

Peduto promises to disclose identities of "Undercover Boss" donors 

Barry Kauffman, executive director of Pennsylvania Common Cause, said Peduto is obligated to share the information in the interest of transparency. Even though the money is coming from private donors, it's being funneled through a public agency.

Lebo Citizen readers were made aware of missing Mt. Lebanon sports organizations' 990's in these posts about 990s.  I called for better transparency. I see that I am not alone. Watchdogs call for better transparency of nonprofits' IRS filings 

So, President Elect John Bendel and Sports Advisory Board commission liaison, when are you going to share the information in the interest of transparency?

This could complicate things UPDATED

Oops! Mt. Lebanon Baseball forgot to file their 990's for three consecutive years and the IRS is a little cranky. They revoked Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association's tax exempt status on May 15, 2014 with the Revocation Posting Date of August 11, 2014 (IRS posted notice of automatic revocation on IRS.gov).

Who are the officers of Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association?

So here is where it gets complicated. Mt. Lebanon Baseball donated $50,000 on June 29, 2014 to the turf project, after they lost their 501(c)(3) status. Does any of that money belong to the IRS? If any goes back, what happens to the $250,000 non-municipal funds obligation? Do the sponsors lose their tax deductions? Technically, any funds (revenues or income) including dues received after losing their tax exempt, non-profit status becomes taxable to them and any donations or gifts, money or goods, by donors cannot qualify for federal tax deductibility for the donors.  

On May 10, 2012, I had a visitor come to my door. At that time, I could mention his name. I happened to bring up 990's in the course of our conversation. Did we ever get to the bottom of the YSA Joint Maintenance Agreement payments? I see that the YSA is a 2014 Sponsor. So they ARE still around.

I wonder if any of the officers notified the commission. Speaking of the commission, on Tuesday evening, the commissioners will be voting to adopt the 2015 Comprehensive Fee Schedule. I see fees for block parties, Right To Know fees, stormwater fees, advertising fees for mtl Magazine, golf fees, swimming pool fees, yoga fees, tennis fees, ice rink fees, pavilion rentals, sanitary sewer fees, parking fees, Kennywood tickets, etc., but gosh darn it, no fees for Wildcat Field. Oh, and no fees for signs at ball fields. Why is that?

Update December 9, 2014 11:41 PM I asked about the fees for Wildcat and for signage. They were added to the 2015 Comprehensive Fee Schedule today since it was an oversight.

A closer look at the JMA, YSA, MTL, MTLSD, MTLH, MLAC, TBDC,and any other letters of the alphabet

Fascinating information is pouring in about these groups. I received this link from the July/August 2002 issue of mtl Magazine.  See pages 30 and 31 about fields and YSA. http://ebooks.mtlebanon.org/mtl/mtl-072002/files/31.html  There was talk about turfing Jefferson from the time Smartchan was superintendent ten years ago.  The JMA earned the PASBO (PA Association of School Board Officials) award of achievement, but it doesn't look like PASBO ever reviewed the 990 forms.  According to the article, drainage was already rectified. Lots of interesting information, including The Blue Devil Club and Marcia Taylor's involvement.

I also received more 990's. The Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club does a fiscal year, only their fiscal year is from 1 September to 31 August of the following year. Here are their 990's.
Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club 2008 990
Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club 2009 990
Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club 2010 990

The Mt. Lebanon Hockey Association also reports on a fiscal year basis starting 1 May and ending 30 April the following year. Here are their 990's.
Mt. Lebanon Hockey Association 2009 990
Mt. Lebanon Hockey Association 2010 990
Mt. Lebanon Hockey Association 2011 990

I'm intrigued with all these non-profit groups in Mt. Lebanon - especially the field sports groups.  No one group has $200,000 to contribute towards this scheme to carpet and light Wildcat/Middle fields.  The Soccer Association comes close, with net assets of $179,687 - and MLAC has $131,592.  YSA certainly can't come up with the $200K by themselves - they only have a net worth of $31,918!  They must be counting on contributions from other field sports groups to bring $200,000 to the table.

Another Country Heard From UPDATED

By now, you have received your 2012 letter from The Blue Devil Club. I am glad to see that they took some time to draft a new letter.  It is interesting to compare this year's to last year's letter. The 2011 letter "pitched":

• However, this continued success is even more impressive when you consider that our student-athletes also maintained a collective QPA in excess of 3.25!

• Over 91% of the total funds raised by and through the Blue Devil Club are spent specifically on the student-athletes.

 I hope it was an oversight, but those two statements would be worth repeating if they were true this year. In light of the Joint Maintenance Agreement, sports groups' 990's and the YSA, perhaps over 91% of the total funds were not spent on the "student-athletes." The 2011 letter also mentioned that:

ln the past, the funds were spent to upgrade athletic facilities and/or equipment, assist the Club‘s member sport teams meet temporary shortfalls in their ability to raise the funds necessary to meet annual expenditures, and to provide the “extra things” that help give our student-athletes a first class experience that they will never forget!

What annual expenditures? The YSA's inability to contribute $30,000 a year to maintain School District fields? Zero dollars are spent on Municipal fields. Yet, in the YSA's own words, the best baseball fields are Middle and Wildcat which happen to be Municipal fields. When will the Mt. Lebanon Scholastic Athletic Association, a.k.a. The Blue Devil Club, which includes the following varsity sports: baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, cheerleading, football, boys' and girls' soccer, fast pitch softball, boys' and girls' tennis, softball, volleyball and wrestling start contributing to the municipality for the use of their facilities? Why must the 78% of the households who do not have children in school be expected to fund this organization? Levels of support range from an individual or family membership ($25) to Blue Devil Champion ($1000 or more).

Update July 31, 2012 11:15 PM
Blue Devil Club 2009 990
Blue Devil Club 2010 990
Blue Devil Club 2011 990

Yet another "story" about YSA's contributions

Remember what Jan Klein wrote to Richard Gideon in this post, YSA vs. MTLSD - Updated? Remember the YSA 990's that I linked to in the same post?

Then we have the Trib reporting in my post, NSF YSA Makes The Trib!

Then-school Superintendent George Wilson dismissed the amount owed in 2008 because of the group's insufficient funds; and the organization paid the $20,000 balance for 2010 last year.

Now we have Dr. Steinhauer reporting that the Joint Maintenance Agreement has served us well. In fact, the YSA had paid $30,000 in 2008.  Huh? Listen for yourself on the podcast.  It starts at approximately the 58 minute mark. June 11, 2012 School Board Meeting

How many more versions of the story are out there?  Someone is lying to someone somewhere!!!

I do want to thank those school board members who questioned Jan Klein and Dr. Steinhauer. It is appalling how we can't get a straight answer.

More on Youth Sports Alliance...Updated 2x

Four more years of YSA's 990's showed up in my email.  This is much better than what we are looking at from 2008 to January of this year, but they are still in the hole overall from calendar year 2004 to January, 2012.

YSA 990 2004 Statement 1 shows $30,000 contributed towards agreement
YSA 990 2005 Line 43a shows $26,000 contributed towards agreement
YSA 990 2006 Line 43a shows $30,000* contributed towards agreement
YSA 990 2007 Line 43c shows $30,000 contributed towards field maint. & improvements

Since the last batch of YSA 990's didn't all match the school district's numbers, I would be curious to hear what Jan Klein's records show.

From what I understand, YSA was not designated a 501(c)(3) until 2005. There are no detailed public financial records on the YSA prior to 2004.

*Corrected amount. See page 17 of the PDF file YSA 990 2006, "Statement 1 - Form 990, Part II, Line 43 - Other Functional Expenses."

Update May 18, 2012 8:25 a.m.

From: egillen476@aol.com
To: commission@mtlebanon.org, schoolboard@mtlsd.net
Cc: TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net, sfeller@mtlebanon.org, davefranklin4@gmail.com
Subject: Joint Maintenance Agreement
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 22:42:04 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Commissioners and School Board Directors,

I would like to bring to your attention several posts from the Lebo Citizens blog involving Youth Sports Alliance and the Joint Maintenance Agreement concerning maintenance of school district fields.

http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/05/closer-look-at-fields.html

http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/05/i-had-visitor-today.html

http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/05/ysa-vs-mtlsd.html

http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-on-youth-sports-alliance.html

Watching you agonize over cuts at the latest school board meeting, it might make sense to go after the low hanging fruit. Collecting YSA's outstanding payments could help eliminate some tough decisions for you.

Elaine Gillen


Update May 18, 2012 8:46 a.m.  Minutes from the 11-23-09 Commission meeting where Dan Miller asks some tough questions about the Joint Maintenance Agreement.  Note Bill Lewis' comments too!