Boy Scouts execs splurge: Local council's records on trip to Key West show spending on alcohol, pricey food, golf.

[fgoodwin]

Boy Scouts execs splurge: Local council's records on trip to Key West show spending on alcohol, pricey food, golf.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1722887.php

http://tinyurl.com/33tupo

 

Friday, June 8, 2007

By TONY SAAVEDRA and TERI SFORZA

The Orange County Register

 

S'mores and "Kumbaya" it ain't.

 

The Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa is touted as Key West's premier hotel, with three restaurants and four bars.

 

The Florida hotel's Web site features a topless woman gazing at sun-dappled waters beyond a private white sand beach.

 

Guests are invited to "mix business with pleasure."

 

Orange County Boy Scouts chief Leslie Baron and 31 Scouting executives from around the nation did just that in January, with the Orange County chapter picking up the tab for more than $27,000 in banquets, cocktails, rounds of golf and fishing trips.

 

Rooms for the three Orange County delegates were an additional $5,200.

 

According to internal receipts and financial documents obtained by The Orange County Register, Baron and his colleagues from around the country:

 

Ran up a tab of $210 for alcoholic beverages that included Big Ass Cab, chocolate martinis and Granny Smith cocktails. Paying for alcohol is not an approved expense in Scouting organizations.

 

Dined on prime rib at $20 a person and consumed $210 worth of Parmesan-crusted artichoke hearts stuffed with goat cheese mousse.

 

Took fishing trips on chartered boats in the Gulf of Mexico at $540 per boat.

 

Golfed at the nation's only Caribbean course, where greens fees run $160.

 

As a charity group, the Boy Scouts paid no taxes on any of the costs.

 

The Boy Scouts of America's Orange County Council picked up most of the tab for the weekend conference in Key West, but was reimbursed within 30 days by the other Scouting groups that attended, officials said.

 

However, council spokeswoman Lara Fisher said she could not release any documents showing that those reimbursements were made.

 

Fisher also would not disclose the total cost of the conference as well as total expenses for the Orange County attendees.

 

The conference lasted four days, but Baron stayed eight to coordinate the event, Fisher said.

 

The Register found that two expenses were not initially reimbursed: up to $99 in alcohol and more than $500 in unbudgeted golf games. Baron personally reimbursed the Orange County council for those costs after he was contacted by the Register last week.

 

At the time, Fisher inaccurately told a reporter that Baron had already paid back the money.

 

"I assumed it happened because that was standard procedure," said Fisher, who returned a message left for Baron.

 

In a statement released this week, Orange County Scouting officials said alcohol was not an allowable expense, but golfing and fishing were.

 

They explained that the weekend was a meeting between the top Scouting official in the nation and representatives from the 25 largest councils.

 

Fisher said she was instructed not to identify those councils or the executives who attended. She also would not identify Orange County board members. Their names were not reported on tax records.

 

The trip comes at a time when the Boy Scouts of America, as a national organization, is facing financial challenges.

 

Among the national problems: Revenue declined for three straight years (from $208 million to $115 million), and spending on actual programs for kids declined for three straight years as well (from $191 million to $152 million), according to tax returns.

 

The organization earned just two of four possible stars from Charity Navigator, an organization that analyzes the fiscal health of nonprofit groups, and its sustainability is a concern, said Sandra Miniutti of Charity Navigator.

 

Boy Scouts of America officials said Charity Navigator isn't looking at the latest figures. They say the organization is on the rebound.

 

Orange County's Boy Scouts Council, in contrast, is performing strongly under Baron, despite a decision by the United Way to drop funding to the local group.

 

Revenue has doubled in three years, to $19 million in 2005.

 

Over the past three years, the Boy Scouts Council's net assets what the organization is worth after subtracting its debts climbed 41 percent, from $27.8 million to $39.2 million.

 

About $12 million of its assets are in cash and securities. At the same time, spending has increased just 16 percent, to $9 million. Management costs rose by 50 percent, according to 2005 tax returns.

 

Baron earned $258,947 in salary and expenses in 2005, higher than Scout executives in two similarly sized California counties.

 

In Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, Scout executive Jason Stein made $140,042. San Diego County's Terry Trout made $181,660.

 

Average earnings for a nonprofit executive in the U.S. are $140,000 a year, according to Charity Navigator.

 

The annual trip, this year to Key West, provides Boy Scout executives the opportunity to brainstorm on how to grow the organization and meet the needs of today's youth, Fisher said.

 

She said the Orange County council was in charge of organizing this year's meeting and put "a number of" the expenses on the council credit card, with an agreement that the group would later be reimbursed by the other attendees.

 

Internal documents obtained by the Register generated questions on how expenses were handled and recorded in the group's ledgers.

 

On Feb. 1, the local council received a bill from Key West Golf Club for $516 for three unbudgeted players. A check was sent by the council to cover their expenses a week later.

 

Fisher could not answer why Baron did not pay the bill with his own money instead of charging it to the council and reimbursing it after being asked by a reporter.

 

If the weekend meeting and all expenses were previously sanctioned, why did the council list $9,202 of the costs under another event the Top Hands conference, held every summer? Again, Fisher would not comment.

 

Her initial response to news that the Register had expense receipts showing that Baron's room was charged for more than $180 in alcohol was to say that the Boy Scouts were contacting the FBI to determine whether those documents were released illegally.

 

--

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com or 714-796-6930 tsforza@ocregister.com or 714-796-6910

[SemperParatus]

Are any of us really surprised by this?

 

 

[nldscout]

Other than some people drinking a little booze, What is wrong with this?

 

I say nothing!!

 

Sout Exec, like the manages of any large non-profit have meeting and get togethers such as this all the time, so why should they be any different? How many of you have gone to a business conference and had a drink? or Stayed in a decent hotel??

[scottteng]

I have no problem with a nice or even a resort hotel and a reasonable per diem allowance for food. I received much the same when on the payroll of a major corporation. Bar tabs cross the line however when a volunteer leader is not permitted so much as a single beer in his weekend camping supplies at e boy scout camp. If the professionals are going to practice what they are preaching they can afford their own bar tads at 140k per annum.

[nldscout]

If you read the story the SE did reimburse for the drinks.

 

There is a big difference between a scout camp where youth are and a trip like this.

[fgoodwin]

Alcohol is prohibited at Scout functions only if youth are present. This is made quite clear in the New Leader Essentials training in the video that talks about youth protection and Scout policies.

 

You can serve wine (or whatever you choose) at your next Committee Meeting, as long as no youth are present. Our district committee dinners have always been in restaurants that served alcohol (of course, we don't wear Scout uniforms and adults are asked not to bring kids).

[local1400]

Oh sure, goat cheese mousse is a dutch oven favorite of the Scouts. But the real challenge is the parmesan encrusted artichoke hearts in the reflector oven!

[John-in-KC]

Local,

 

I don't think I'd put THAT challenge in Open Discusssion-Program. I will bet cold, hard cash there is a Scouter who:

- Is a chef at some higher end restaurant;

- Became interested in cooking from the Cooking MB;

- Is an Eagle Scout

- Is willing to take you up on cooking those using camp cookery methods, and turn them out perfectly.

[local1400]

Ah, no gambling for me John my buddy. I'll stick to my famous baked beans with onions, peppers, and sausage with biscuits on the side.(Guaranteed to warm up every tent).

[funscout]

I think they forgot "a scout is thrifty!"

[packsaddle]

Welcome to the OC!

Local 1400, I'd like to get those dutch oven recipes from you sometime.

[Hunt]

These executives are paid salaries similar to CEOs of small and medium-size private companies, and thus the luxuriousness of their meetings is similar. It's all part of the same thing--if we think we need to pay Council Scout Executives in the neighborhood of $200,000, we should expect them to behave like people who make that much typically do.

[eagle90]

Come on people - A little jealousy, I suspect. 31 people spending $210 for drinks? That can be one drink apiece! And $20 for prime rib isn't a bad price! Neither is $540 for a day of fishing. Just because we are a non-profit organization doesn't mean we have to be paupers.AS others have said, these can be equated to corporate executives. I think we have a lot more problems that are more critical than spending some bucks on a conference.

[SR540Beaver]

eagle90,

 

I remember back in 2004 and 2005 when I was selected to serve as an ASM for one of our council's three National Jamboree troops. The SM's and ASM's got to call for delinquent monthly payments because the council didn't want to spend the price of a stamp to send out payment notices or late payment notices. Also, I wasn't allowed to make monthly payments for Jamboree with my debit card because the council was charged a per transaction charge by the card company. I could purchase goods in the scout shop because the council was making money off the goos sold that helped offset the card fee. To pay for Jamboree, I had to have a check.

 

When you run into that kind of fiscal "restraint" from your council, it is only natural to be a little miffed at $540 fishing trips. Heck, I can fish for free.

 

There is an old saying that it takes money to make money. I could see a council spending a hefty sum of money if they were courting an individual or corporation with an outlook to bring millions of dollars into the council. This isn't what happened. This was a meeting of the top exec and the 25 largest councils. It was not a fundraiser.

 

A scout is thrifty starts from the top down.....or at least it should.

[mrclark]

Yeah, this seems more typical than anything else. Not necessarily a bad thing... part of the draw of conferences, whether they be business, academic, or non-profit, is the location. If you're meeting with a group of people, you have to find an accessible location. It has to be accommodating to the types of folks attending and their families, and interesting enough to convince people to come. And a graphic pop-press description of one strikes me as a passive-aggressive move rather than a truly concerned one.

 

I think the real problem is overcompensation for SE's, very disproportionate to the amount of unit service they actually provide, especially considering their experience and training. I do wonder whether the investment in the conference will actually pay off as programming for scouts.