Delegates need to ask hard questions about the club levy
AS Wexford G.A.A. boast of a net surplus of €369,422 coupled with increased commercial and fundraising activity, perhaps the time has arrived for the County Board to have a look at the club levy, now in place for some eight years.
It was back in 2012 when Wexford’s G.A.A. finances were in crisis that it was decided on the imposition of a levy on the clubs to meet the bank loan for the Ferns Centre of Excellence, at a time when it was announced by the then newly electly Chairman, Diarmuid Devereux, that he had inherited a financial crisis in the county.
As a result it was decided by the County Board that the clubs needed to help after the full extent of the financial crisis was laid bare at a special meeting of the County Board that included club chairmen and secretaries.
Up to this year the clubs have been levied with the sale of eightyodd Model County draw tickets, of €50 each, bringing in some €4,000 from each club to help meet the Ferns Centre of Excellence bank loan.
At that crisis meeting under the newly elected chairman, Diarmuid Devereux sent out a chilling message to a startled attendance that was clearly dumbfounded at what was unveiled.
Just to give a short synopsis as to why it was so neccessary to seek the clubs backing in helping to sort out the financial mess that existed at that time:
The meeting was told that Wexford G.A.A. board was left with a debt mountain of €3m approximately; a figure that included the expenditure on the Ferns Centre of Excellence, along with the outstanding debt on Wexford Park, a loan that was due for completion but had been increased by the previous administration.
While there was alarm and concern expressed by the delegates, they were left in total shock when informed that Wexford County Board is living off its creditors, who are being left unpaid, U21 player expenses had been utilised to pay creditors, while a High Court settlement on the morning of Convention relating to breach of contract on the Ferns land was revealed.
The first members heard of the financial position was in the weeks following County Convention after Chairman Devereux had trawled through the accounts.
At that meeting the overall picture was expressed as shocking with a full creditors total of €665,393, and even with a total return from debtors of €483,286, it still left a shortfall of €182,107, that was expected to grow.
It was also expressed that with a Glenbrien land loss of €357,803 coming back to haunt the County Board right through the accounts, they were left fighting for survival.
So, with so many questions clouding Wexford G.A.A. finances at that time, it was decided that the only way forward for the county as a whole was to impose a club levy to allow for the meeting of the bank loan along with the further development of the Ferns Centre of Excellence.
When Devereux completed his five-year term of office he had turned the Wexford finances right around, leaving the current administration with a surplus of some €200,000 on which to build a prosperous future for the Association in the county.
He deserves credit for that turnaround of the county’s finances, although little credit has been forthcoming from the current administration.
There is no denying that the club’s are feeling a financial pressure, although it must also be accepted that the County Board’s financial surplus would suffer greatly with the loss of €170,000 odd, the current financial plight of the clubs in Wexford must now be taken into consideration.
Clubs are currently fixated on raising finance to meet their start of year registration and insurance, which runs into a five-figure sum, a heavy financial burden on which to start the new year.
The baffling decision of County Board management to continue with the levy, which was for a five-year term at the ouset, is bewildering to clubs.
Now is the time for clubs to ask serious questions at the first County Board meeting in January, for the €4,000 levy would be of considerable assistance in their meeting their early year financial commitments.