Hartselle Dixie Youth Baseball is reporting a year-end balance of $29,017.40 after beginning the year with a negative balance due to funds that were reported missing last year.

Tony Boster, president of the Hartselle Dixie Youth Baseball, said they began the year in the hole due to prior mismanagement and unpaid bills to start the season.

According to statements provided to the Hartselle Enquirer, the concession stand account began the year with
-$518.78. Its baseball account carried a $915.03 beginning balance, but that didn’t factor in $1,776.95 of unpaid invoices from the 2013 fiscal year.

“We really didn’t even have enough to have concession stand startup money to begin the year,” Boster said. “The people we owed money to were about to cease doing business with us.”

Boster said they made sweeping changes in management practices, resulting in ending balances of $14,644.29 in the baseball account and $14,373.11 in concessions.

Some of the changes included having dual signatures on all checks, hiring accountant Geremy Segars to manage the books and hiring Valerie and Mike Greene to run the concession stand. They also limited access to the concession stands, made nightly deposits of concession stand revenue, changed to bottled drinks instead of fountain drinks and paid everything with checks.

“No cash was used to pay somebody,” Boster said. “All of the scorekeepers, umpires, concession stand workers and any other workers were paid with checks. We had already been doing that with umpires, but we made sure that we didn’t use cash to pay for anything. Workers were also issued time cards.”

Boster said they left registration fees at $90 per player, but they were able to reduce parents’ out-of-pocket costs for uniforms.

“We went to one standard uniform for every team,” Boster said. “We put it out for bid and got the best price possible. It was $25 for a shirt and hat. Some parents in the past have complained that uniforms have cost as much as $90. We wanted to do what we could to reduce that cost as much as possible.”

Boster said they also added a temporary $20 concession stand fee if parents were unable to work the concession stands. That fee could be reduced or eliminated if they volunteered to work in the concession stand.

“In the past, we had great volunteer support to work the concession stand, but that has waned over the years,” Boster said. “So we gave parents the option to work in the concession stand or pay the fee so that we can pay someone to work in their place. We don’t like having to continue charging that fee, but we may have to do that if our volunteer support does not increase.”

Boster said they hope to continue the success of this season in the future and that they will be able to keep fees downs as much as possible.

“We made a profit this season, and that included having to replace the air conditioner for the press box and other improvements,” Boster said. “It’s been a great year for Dixie Youth Baseball. We want to do the best we can to keep fees down and keep it affordable for the parents.”

2014 Summary

Starting          Ending

Baseball:         -$861.92        $14,644.29

Concessions:  -$518.78        $14,373.11

Totals:            -$1,380.70     $29,017.40

General Account

Revenue

Registration and Uniform Fees: $59,537.50

Expenses:

Umpires: $15,296.00

Uniforms: $10,700.86

Scorekeepers: $3,229.00

Equipment: $3,164.96

Trophies: $2,814.00

Insurance: $2,560.76

Dixie Fees: $2,448.00

Cash: $1,300.00

A/C Unit: $1,150.00

Supplies: $717.22

Banking & Accounting: $463.19

Utilities: $187.30

Total: $44,031.29

2014 Beginning Balance: $915.03

Outstanding 2013 Invoices: $1,776.95

Net starting balance: -$861.92

Balance as of Sept. 19: $14,644.29

Concessions

Revenue

Sales: $43,781.91

Expenses

Equipment: $695

Inventory: $16,218.62

Manager Base: $3,500

Manager Regular Bonus: $1,000

Manager Tournament Bonus: $1,050.36

Manager Incentive Bonus: $3,903.55

Paid Workers: $2,522.49

Total: $28,890.02

2014 Beginning Balance: -$518.78

Balance as of Sept. 19: $14,373.11