Soccer league suspended from Coachella fields

The Coachella City Council suspended Coachella Valley Desert Soccer League’s access to city soccer fields after the 1,600 member league failed to maintain its non-profit status and comply with the city’s financial reporting guidelines, despite having six months to meet the city’s requirements.

This City Council action was in line with the majority of the Parks and Recreation Commission, which reviewed this item at their October 21 meeting and supported a suspension of CVDSL field use. The City Council suspended CVDSL’s access to city soccer fields for the Nov. 1 to July 31 season in a special meeting Saturday, after an independent financial report found substantial violations of the league’s latest Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the city.

The MOU between the city and local soccer leagues requires local soccer leagues to maintain 501(c)3 non-profit status and to maintain complete accounting records that include all league enrollment fees, purchases and transactions, all of which are subject to independent audits by an outside accounting firm hired by the city.

“We just want to make sure we’re protecting our residents and folks who are signing up for these leagues, to make sure they have full transparency and accountability. We want to make sure our leagues are trustworthy,” said council member Betty Sanchez. “Unfortunately CVDSL was not able to meet that.”

Both city soccer leagues were given written notices of the need to comply with these requirements in April.

“CVDSL provided us with some bank statements that contained partial transaction activity, partial summary transaction information with minimal identification, and city payment receipts,” Turner, Warren, Hwang & Conrad Accountancy Corporation wrote in its October 2, 2015 audit of Coachella Valley Desert Soccer League’s financial records. “We noticed that CVDSL’s California corporate status had been suspended and we found no current public record of its IRS tax exemption status although it had earlier been classified as tax exempt by the IRS.”

Turner, Warren, Hwang & Conrad Accountancy Corporation also found problems with the financial reporting procedures used by the 1,600 member Coachella Youth Sports Association Soccer (CYSAS) League. However, the City Council is not suspending CYSAS ‘s use of city soccer fields because it did a much better job of trying to comply with the MOU. CYSAS will be permitted to use the fields this soccer season and it is recommended that any CVDSL teams approach CYSAS to continue uninterrupted soccer play for the season which started November 1, 2015.

In the meantime, CYSAS must bring its accounting into full compliance with the city’s MOU. The city plans to hire an outside accounting firm to conduct a follow-up audit of CYSAS’s books in the spring 2017.

“The CYSAS League’ss California non-profit corporate status and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax exemption status were found to be active,” Turner, Warren, Hwang & Conrad Accountancy Corporation firm wrote.

Turner, Warren, Hwang & Conrad Accountancy Corporation also highlighted several CYSAS accounting deficiencies that need to be corrected.

“While it was evident that substantial volunteer efforts were contributed to the League, we noted significant and extensive deficiencies to the MOU and League bylaw requirements in the League’s accounting.”

Overall Turner, Warren, Hwang & Conrad Accountancy Corporation stated internal controls “were recorded in a manner consistent with sound business practices and that they incorporated elements of dual control. ” The city maintains soccer fields at Bagdouma Park and Rancho Las Flores Park. It also leases property from Esterline Defense Technologies, which it makes available to local soccer leagues. For a complete list of City Council agendas and supporting documentation, including the MOU and audit reports involving local soccer leagues, visit www.coachella.org.

UPDATED: The soccer league responded Tuesday to our request for comment.

A representative, Ramon Quintana Velarde said the organization has now acquired the proper non-profit status documentation.

Quintana Velarde said the league is still active.

He admitted the league made some mistakes, but it’s board is working to reorganize.

Quintana Velarde said the five months given for the audit was not enough time to make the appropriate corrections.

The board plans to present the city with the required documents soon.

But in the meantime, its requesting other fields to continue play, perhaps at the school district.

Quintana Velarde said the league hopes the city will allow the league to use public fields in the near future.