State Begins Audit of Youth Sports League’s Finances

The state attorney general’s office Thursday began an audit of Montebello’s largest and oldest youth sports league amid allegations by a group of parents and coaches of mismanagement of funds.

The audit of the Montebello Baseball Assn. resulted after parents complained and because the nonprofit association failed to file required financial statements from 1986 to 1990 with the state attorney general, the Internal Revenue Service and the state Franchise Tax Board.

Association Commissioner Larry Salazar said the failures to file were merely an oversight, and the audit will show that his organization has done nothing wrong.

“We have to admit those forms were not turned in,” said Salazar, who has been commissioner since 1989. But “if nobody tells you that you need to do it, you don’t think about it.”

The leaders of nonprofit groups can be held personally liable and forcibly removed from office for misuse of money, Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cordi said.

Salazar said previous commissioners and association board members also had been unaware of their obligations under state and federal codes.

The organization has retained an accountant to prevent such mistakes in the future. Salazar said it has taken more than a year for association members to go through boxes of old records to prepare for the audit.

Some parents and coaches remained unsatisfied with the explanation, and they have other gripes as well. They said the association holds board meetings in secret, responds to criticism with hostility and will not provide financial information upon request.

“We haven’t been able to find out where the money is disbursed, how it is disbursed and who makes the decisions to disburse,” said Al Rivera, a team manager and spokesman for disgruntled parents and coaches. “When people bring up these charges, they are asked to leave the park. We are told that if we don’t like it we can get out.”

Salazar said the allegations are untrue and that he encourages as much parent participation at board meetings and in the league as he can. “I’m real proud of what the Montebello Baseball Assn. does for the city of Montebello,” he said. “We provide the program we are supposed to provide.”

Other complaints center around the association’s practice of forming a super team of handpicked players at the start of every season. Rivera said this team, called the Brewers, gets preferential treatment, including uniforms worth $90 instead of $20. Rivera added that many parents objected to having their sons’ teams forced to play the overpowering Brewers.

The Brewers travel to games in nearby cities and to tournaments as far away as Alaska and Japan. Critics allege that the team is being subsidized by families in the regular program. League officials insist that the families involved pay for the Brewers’ travel costs.

League rules require an entry fee ranging from $45 to $65, depending on the child’s age. Families must sell or pay for $75 worth of candy bars and two $10 tickets to a community dance. Parents also must work eight hours in the league snack bar or pay $100.

Rivera said many parents have not stepped forward with their concerns because they fear retaliation, but he said his group is preparing to bring a petition to the City Council with hundreds of signatures.

The Montebello Baseball Assn. was formed in 1941 and serves more than 700 youths ages 5 through 18 on about 60 teams. Sign-ups start in January and league play runs from April through mid-August. Nearly all of the participants are boys; a handful of girls play in younger age divisions.

Salazar said the association takes in about $95,000 and currently has $81 in the bank. He said critics underestimate the expenses of running the league, which include hiring umpires, buying food for the snack bar and purchasing new baseballs for every game.

The association’s most powerful community critic is Councilman Bill Molinari, who said the program is unnecessarily expensive for what it offers. Molinari noted that the city provides its fields free of charge and pays for utilities and upkeep.

Molinari said the association has not lived up to its city contract, which requires monthly financial reports and a yearly audit. He believes the city should either take over youth baseball or ask another group to organize the games.

Other council members have praised the association. Councilman Ed Pizzorno said there are only a handful of unhappy parents and coaches, and he said such unrest is typical of children’s sports leagues.

“The complaints usually come from the team that finishes second,” he said. “You’re talking about sports and baseball, and everyone is an expert. And because their own children are involved, they are even more expert. About the only way you maintain order is through autocratic rule.”