Stingers pledge to repay debt

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: July 17, 2008

A group of Orange County parents and sports fans has agreed to take over management of a local youth football league and the $18,000 in debt that comes with it.
At a July 8 Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, county officials agreed to pass control of Orange Stingers football to the Piedmont Youth Sport Association (PYSA). The parent and volunteer group will assume control of Orange Stingers football teams, which in the past has been under the management of Orange County Parks and Recreation. The Stingers management pass-off to parents was part of the county’s plan, but officials were expecting the transition sometime next year. PYSA representatives want to takeover now.
Since the Stingers program was organized in 2005, PYSA has been involved in fundraising and a portion of the behind-the-scenes management of the local youth football league, but the league was run by the parks and recreation department. In those years, the league ran up a substantial tab with the county for unreturned equipment and unpaid costs for a Florida tournament.
PYSA was notified by county officials that the 2008 football season would be a transitional period. While the league, under parks and recreation control, relied largely on tax dollar funding, it would progress to volunteer control and independent funding. But for the Stingers program and PYSA, precisely who would be calling the shots was not the only problem. More than $18,000 was owed to the county after previous season’s equipment went unreturned and parents failed to reimburse the cost of their child’s trip to a tournament.
The PYSA proposed to adopt the program right away, forgoing the county’s offer of a year of transition. And bravely, the volunteer organization promised to reimburse that outstanding balance. According to the agreement, PYSA expects to return the money owed to the county in four annual payments.
“Basically, in a nutshell, most of the parents didn’t pay for the championship game when we took the kids to Florida,” PYSA founding member Demetrius Washington explained. But Washington said the $18,000 in outstanding expenses didn’t come from deadbeat parents. “A portion of the debt is from the way parks and recreation did the accounting,” he said.
“Most hadn’t paid because parks and recreation hadn’t sent them an itemized bill.” Washington said parents were baffled when the bills sent out by the parks and recreation department at the end of last season contained no details-just a number, with no explanation.
At present, organization of all local youth league sports is in a state of flux following the dismissal of longtime Orange County Parks and Recreation Director Debra Bickley earlier this year. And to add to parks and recreation activity problems, county funding of parks and recreation programs was cut dramatically. Rather than providing the majority of funding for parks and recreation programs, county officials agreed to limit subsidization of each parks and recreation activity to just 15 percent. Individual activities’ solvency is now dependent on volunteer staffing, a greater level of parent involvement and private fundraising.
According to Washington, financial fruits of past and future fundraising should be funneled directly back to Stingers, without a cut of the revenue taken out to pay parks and recreation department staff. After all, those funds had been raised, and football teams facilitated by “a large contingent of volunteers,” he added.
Despite Washington’s enthusiasm and confidence in the program, supervisors seemed concerned the Stingers were biting off more than they could chew by offering to assume responsibility for the five-figures worth of arrears.
“Are you really comfortable with that kind of debt as you’re coming along?” District 2 Supervisor Zack Burkett asked Washington.
A business plan has already been drafted, fundraising efforts planned and volunteers in place to tackle repayment to the county, Washington replied. Quite simply, once registration fees are properly collected and accounted for, Stingers football will pay for itself.
Washington’s wife Jacquelyn, manager of the PYSA, explained, “We’re impassioned to the keep football here in Orange County, and to alleviate the burden (the county has) and try to continue the program and not sink ourselves. We are prepared-with an exclamation point-to go forward. We’re asking the county to please give it back to us.”
Demetrius Washington said he understood supervisors’ worries. “They were concerned about the amount of money, that they were digging a hole with that large sum.”
But PYSA is already working to recoup the money owed from last season. “We’re drafting a letter to parents who still owe money.” “The idea of one person being responsible for various invoices is great,” Orange County Assistant Administrator Julie Jordan said. Jordan has been managing the parks and recreation department since Bickley was let go earlier this year.
Washington expects accounts to be settled smoothly, and soon. Kids can’t come back to play unless their bills have been paid. The overwhelming majority of players from last year will be returning for another season on the Stingers, including those whose parents have yet to settle their account.
“We’re looking forward to getting started. We appreciate all that the board of supervisors has done, and we expect a smooth transition,” Washington said.
Satisfied with PYSA’s plans and proposal, supervisors were content to turn Stingers over to parents and volunteers.
“This gets us out of the business,” District 5 Supervisor Lee Frame said. 
“I thought the county ought to be out of the business,” Burkett said. “We weren’t doing a good job.”