Hillsborough County allots $400K for Urban League debt

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.