The Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League, an organization focused in part on helping minorities achieve economic success, is facing its own financial turmoil.

The league has nearly $550,000 in outstanding liens against it. It owes money to the Internal Revenue Service and to several construction firms working on a new headquarters building for the organization.

A Hillsborough County Circuit Court judge awarded a $42,000 judgment against the league Aug. 17, after it defaulted on payments to a financing firm.

The United Way of Tampa Bay asked the Pinellas County Urban League to take over as fiscal agent for about $150,000 in funding awarded to the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League, said Diana Baker, United Way president and CEO.

Thomas Huggins III, chairman of the board of the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League, founded in 1922, said the league has seen a recent downturn in donations, but it is aggressively working to increase fundraising and to streamline its own administrative costs, as well as redefine its priorities.

A national search is under way for a new CEO and president to replace Joanna Tokley, who retired in June after 30 years with the league.

In August, the league brought in Frank Galindo, president of American Outsourcing Group, a Tampa-based accounting firm that helps small- and mid-sized businesses, to work as CFO on a part-time basis. Galindo's duties include restructuring the financial management of the organization.

"With the new CFO, with aggressive fundraising and commitment and support from the business community, the challenges that you see and that we experienced over the past few months, we believe we can overcome," Huggins said.

'Not a prudent approach'

Huggins and other Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League board members said part of the organization's problems stem from its investment in a new headquarters at El Centro Espanol de West Tampa, a historic structure at 2306 N. Howard Ave.

The City of Tampa unsuccessfully tried to redevelop the two-story, 28,953-square-foot building before deeding the property to the league, said Jim Stefan, the city's budget director. The city also helped the league with funding for the project, three HUD and city grants totaling $1.6 million between 1999 and 2003. That funding is about half of the $3.3 million the league has spent on the project.

Several bills have gone unpaid, including one to Paul J. Sierra Construction in Tampa. The firm filed a lien Feb. 17 in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, saying it was owed $489,220 of the $2.6 million in work it performed at El Centro.

That includes money Sierra paid to several subcontractors, said attorney Michael Sierra, Paul Sierra's brother. Since then, the league has paid about $160,000 but still owes about $329,000.

"It's the kind of thing where you think you are doing good, but the money never got where it was supposed to get," Michael Sierra said. "It's not a prudent approach to handling it."

Several other subcontractors independently filed smaller liens in county court since, records show. None of those firms or their attorneys could be reached for comment.

Renovation proves taxing

The league was unprepared for the delays caused by the nature of the historic renovation, Huggins said, and it is close to closing all the liens.

"I think they took on much more than they should have with El Centro," said Helen Gordon Davis, a Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League board member and a former Florida state legislator. "They are working with a skeleton employee crew because they are trying to raise money for the building, which has been like a white elephant."

Still, Davis believes the project will be worth it, once it is up and going. The league expects to move into the building within a month. From there, it will operate programs focusing on education, employment and training, family services and youth opportunities for at-risk children, and programs for low-income housing.

Stuart Campbell, the city's planning supervisor who worked with the league on the grants, declined comment on the liens but said the investment was worthwhile.

"We think this building will do a lot for renovating the West Tampa community. The Urban League has a lot of good programs it will operate out of this building," Campbell said.

Unpaid taxes and a default

At least two other legal actions have stemmed from the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League's failure to pay its bills.

On May 14, the IRS filed a tax lien, saying it was owed $150,202 in unpaid federal income taxes that were withheld from employees' paychecks but never remitted to the government. The league has worked out a repayment plan with the IRS, Huggins said.

On Aug. 17, a Hillsborough County Circuit Court judge ruled the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League had defaulted on a lease with CIT Technology Financing Services for a copier. The judge said the league owed CIT $42,842 and ordered the copier returned to CIT.

TAMPA -- The financially troubled Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League is getting a bailout of more than $400,000 from Hillsborough County.

The county's budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 includes $422,836 to pay the bills the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League owes to contractors that worked on its new headquarters facility, the El Centro Espanol de West Tampa at 2306 N. Howard Ave.

The league plans to move into the building in October. From there it will operate programs designed to help minorities, including education, employment and training, family services and youth opportunities for at-risk children and programs for low-income housing.

Eric Johnson, director of management and budget for Hillsborough County, said the appropriation was approved at a budget hearing Sept. 23, after an appeal from Thomas Huggins III, chairman of the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League board.

Johnson said the county agreed to pay the contractors' bills in part because it has a long-standing relationship with the league, which provides race symposiums for the county.

He also said the county had "invested" in the building earlier, giving the league $213,706 in 1999 when the league began work to restore the historic El Centro facility.

Outstanding bills

Hillsborough County court records show that since February 2004, four contractors have filed liens against the league. According to the liens, the contractors performed more than $2.8 million in work for the league but were owed $559,435 when the liens were filed.

The Urban League has since paid $160,000 to Paul J. Sierra Construction, the general contractor on the project, but the firm is still owed $329,000, said Michael Sierra, an attorney for the company.

"The county would not be paying the Urban League, but paying the companies directly," Johnson said. "As a condition of that, we would ensure the release of the liens."

He said the county funds would not be used to cover other outstanding bills, including a $150,000 federal tax lien the IRS filed against the league in May or a $42,000 judgment issued against the league in August after it defaulted on a lease to an office supply financing firm.

In addition, the United Way of Tampa Bay appointed the Pinellas County Urban League as fiscal agent to administer about $150,000 in funding for programs run by the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League, after an independent audit report raised concerns.

Huggins has said the league has seen a downturn in donations but is working to increase fundraising and to streamline administrative costs.

Family affair

Hillsborough County funding is just a part of the public money that has been spent on the league's effort to restore El Centro, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $900,000 for the project in 1999. The HUD funds were administered by the City of Tampa.

Another $1 million in city funds has gone into the project in the past four years, said Councilwoman Mary Alvarez, District 6. Her district includes the El Centro building.

She said total costs for the restoration now top $5 million.

"I have been concerned about it," Alvarez said. "I'm very interested because that building means a lot to me. I used to go to the theater there. My dad used to play dominoes there. It was a family affair."

Alvarez said she is working with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio to speed up installation of telephone service at the building, so the Urban League can move in.