Century Youth Football Donation, Mayor’s Spending Raise IRS, Legal Questions

August 20, 2015

The acceptance of an anonymous donation to the Town of Century for a youth football program and how those funds were disbursed by the mayor without propert authority have raised legal and tax questions.

At last Monday night’s meeting of the Century Town Council, Mayor Freddie McCall notified the council that an anonymrous “football player” had donated a “substantial” amount of money toward the youth football program in Century. McCall said the donor had discovered that youth program’s sponsoring organization, the “Century Recreation Association”, had in fact lost their tax exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.

In order for the donor to receive a possible tax write-off for the donation, McCall told the council that the town had accepted the donation, and he had authorized a payment made to the Century Recreation Association for the full amount of the donation. During the council meeting, McCall declined when asked to identify the football player and the amount of the donation.

NorthEscambia.com has since learned that the donation was for $2,093, a very specific amount needed to replace youth football equipment that belonged to the recreation association, not the town, that was stolen from Anthony Pleasant Park. The donation was made by the football player through a trust fund.

(NorthEscambia.com has confirmed the name of the football player, but in keeping with his wishes to help local youth while remaining anonymous, we are not disclosing his name as the source of the funds is irrelevant to this story.)

McCall then asked the council to allow the Century Recreation Association to solicit donations from individuals and businesses with checks made payable to the Town of Century, allowing donors to receive a tax write-off. The donations would then be passed through the town’s accounts to the non-tax exempt Century Recreation Association. The council took no action on his request, with concerns voiced over the legality of the request.

“I can’t vote for that,” Council President Ann Brooks, also a certified public accountant, said.

In a memo to the town council dated Wednesday, McCall wrote, “Concern was raised regarding circumventing Internal Revenue Service rules and even misuse of public funds. In addition, questions were asked as to the validity of the Town donating to organizations that are not registered with the IRS as a not-for-profit entity.”

In the memo, McCall expressed several points supporting his decisions that were written after consulting with Town Attorney Matt Dannheisser.

The funds, the mayor said, were provided to the Century Recreation Association for a public purpose — “to buy equipment for our young people to participate in organized sports is indeed a public purpose. Providing recreational  opportunities and community events such as football games is valuable to our community. The Town is well within its right to take public funds to pay for these things.”

According to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations’ online search tools, the “Century Recreation Association” is currently not a legal entity or organization name in the State of Florida. And, as reported by the mayor, IRS records confirm there is no such tax exempt organization.

But Dannheisser told NorthEscambia.com that the town is still allowed to pass donations to the loosely formed organization if the council determines the spending serves a public purpose.

In his memo, McCall said he thought of the funds as a “pass-thru”, but he exceeded the $200 mayoral spending limits in the town charter.

“I did not have authority to spend the funds without Council approval,” he wrote. He plans to ask the council at their next regular meeting on September 14 to consider whether the funds were spent on a public purpose and ratify his actions.

The “Century Recreation Association” is expected to provide receipts showing how the $2,093 was spent. The town routinely verifies receipts from other organizations that receive town funding for a public purpose.

Comments

8 Responses to “Century Youth Football Donation, Mayor’s Spending Raise IRS, Legal Questions”

  1. Steve Desposito on August 21st, 2015 12:16 pm

    I commend the donor for contributing the money, sometimes we get off track of the real issues is that someone “stepped up” and donated the needed funds for these kids to have safe equipment to play a contact sport. If the IRS has such an issue with how this was done so be it, they should be concentrating on someone like Al Sharpton who owes the IRS over 3 million yet we don’t want do that because were too scared. I’ve been involved in youth sports as a Coach for the past 8 years and it costs money, especially football to outfit the kids in the necessary equipment. I say kudos to Mayor McCall for standing up for doing the right thing, the rest of you pencil pushers just shut and for once just say ‘thank you’ to the kind donation.

  2. willis on August 21st, 2015 8:13 am

    Sometimes doing good is much harder than just saying “I don’t don’t know that’s just the way it is”.

    Thanks to the donor for caring and sharing.
    Thanks to Mayor McCall for trying to do something that will benefit the children.

  3. citizen on August 21st, 2015 12:50 am

    Thanks Mayor McCall, we support you and thanks for looking after the youth and the town. It must be complicated and we wish you well.

  4. jeeperman on August 20th, 2015 3:43 pm

    sounds like money laundering to me.

    Why does the CRA avoid being a registered not-for-profit entity?

    Too much paperwork?

  5. chris on August 20th, 2015 10:06 am

    *cue the Dukes of Hazzard music anytime now*

  6. just listening on August 20th, 2015 6:54 am

    Keeping everything Open and Aboveboard I think Mayor McCall is trying to do. I believe the Century Recreation Organization would probably date back to the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. Maybe loosely operated but did have a tax number in the 1970’s when I had kids involved (playing Football and Cheering the team). Why they have lost their tax exempt status the Mayor could investigate. This Organization was big in Century and probably was the leader in getting surrounding towns to form like Organizations. Little League baseball and football was the incubator to many would could have and did make the big Leagues of today. Century should be the proudest of this of all things that it stands for. You may not can tell it but I am a Century Blackcats Fan even today. Go! Mayor McCall and “Goooo Blackcats”.

  7. Mike on August 20th, 2015 6:43 am

    The CRA must be making money somehow, or they would be considered a non-profit, like some of the non-profits in town that have all those new cars in the employee parking spots. :)

  8. 24/7 on August 20th, 2015 4:16 am

    It is for the kids. The town should d0 what it can to support the youth. A lot of others towns do it. And you wonder why Century gets passed over, they are stuck in the past.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News