Since last spring when the review of Springboro booster funds began, the treasurer of the Springboro Athletic Booster Club resigned and boosters and coaches holding camps were required to account for fund-raising and purchasing with the district. Last week, the Springboro Youth Basketball donated $50,000 to the district and pledged $10,000 in scholarships over five years to students to settle a dispute over facilities-use fees.
With fall sports in play, the board let the athletic boosters manage concessions at CareFlight Field, while weighing how to deal with splinter groups, like the Football Moms, which recently staged a steak dinner fund-raiser.
“We continue to find little pop-up organizations like that that are doing their own thing. It makes it next to impossible to track the true cost of athletics and how much money they’re generating,” said board member Jim Rigano.
Rigano said a check for $130,000 was made out to the Springboro Athletic Boosters Association in June by a booster officer in response to the questions about booster finances. Those questions led to inquiries about camps put on by district coaches and fees waived for some local groups using district facilities.
Records obtained by the Dayton Daily News show the board reviewed Ohio ethics law and board policies on employees accepting money for outside activities. The board questioned whether it is appropriate for coaches to use school email and school offices to organize the camps.
The state auditor, asked to do a special audit, has requested documents from Springboro coaches including bank account lists, names of the owners of the accounts, bank statements, canceled checks and deposits for the past two years.
“We want to cooperate but we have a lot of questions,” John Doll, a lawyer representing the coaches, said.
Sports boosters
Before stepping down in June, Springboro Athletic Boosters Treasurer Tom Harves submitted a hand-written report on club funding. Harves, who served as treasurer of the group for more than 20 years and recently was inducted into the district’s Sports Hall of Fame, reported the athletic booster club’s 2011-2012 budget was $108,028, including concessions and fan store receipts, and $82,970 in expenses. Of that, $16,000 went for football uniforms.
“The boosters have paid for nearly all uniforms over the past several years,” Athletic Director Rick Creager said in a text message to a reporter.
Harves did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.
The boosters have yet to sign off on new rules for control and oversight by the district, according to club President Susanne Edwards. Still the club and district are meeting regularly, she said. “We’ve come a long way with the board.”
Coach camps
Troy Holtrey, the district’s long-time boys basketball coach, was replaced this year by a former assistant, Jay Byrne. Holtrey, Football Coach Ryan Wilhite, Baseball Coach Mark Pelfrey and Girls Basketball Coach Tom Benjamin retained Doll’s firm to handle the board request for financial records from the youth camps each conducted.
Before turning over any records, Doll said they are waiting for the district to turn over records on policies and past practices. In June, the board amended policies to bar coaches and other staff from benefiting from businesses based on their district position.
In a July 10 email from Holtrey to Creager, who replaced Holtrey as athletic director in 2011, Holtrey said the recent Little Dribblers and Fundamentals camps run in conjunction with Springboro Youth Basketball, as well as competition camps, brought in about $20,000 in revenues. After paying expenses to run the camps, Holtrey wrote that he would write a check for $10,141 “from my account” and sign over another $1,585 in checks to the district.
Facilities use fees
Last week, the board accepted a donation and scholarship pledge from Springboro Youth Basketball. The group also agreed to pay as much as $28,000 this year to use district gyms. Group President John Emanuel declined to comment on any connection between the group’s financial commitments to the district and facilities use discussions.
Superintendent Todd Petrey said he encouraged the group to make the donation to resolve the issue.
“The board felt it was only right we collect that money,” Petrey said, particularly with the district planning to seek renewal of a tax levy expiring next year.
Moving ahead
This year, the school district projected $1.1 million in expenses and $1.05 million in revenues for athletics, including $40,000 from boosters and $15,000 from coach camps.
While pressing for accountability, board members said they want to encourage continued fund-raising.
“How do we rein that in without discouraging the effort?” Rigano said.
The Panther varsity opened the football season with victories. Boosters put on fund-raisers. While weighing agreements committing boosters to greater scrutiny, the club is providing financials and meeting regularly with the board, Edwards said.
“We’re one district. We need to start acting like one district,” she said.
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