Golf tourney or yule party?
Some donors to city's annual employee fete unaware where money was going

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The Christmas party for city employees in December cost just less than $10,000, according to figures released recently by city officials.

The Independent had asked for a rundown of how much the party, held in mid-December at Red Rock Park, cost and who contributed to it. Many of the contributors believed they were donating to a fundraising golf tournament, not a Christmas party.

The information provided by the city showed that last year’s party cost $9,971 to put on and the city collected $11,068 in donations, which means that just more than $1,000 is left over for use at this year’s event.

Most of the revenue for the party — $5,025 — came from donations to the End of the Year Scramble Golf Tournament at the city golf course in September.

Another $2,080 came from ticket sales. While city employees got in free, guests and others who were not connected to the city had to pay a $10 admission fee. The remaining — some $3,215 — came from donations not connected with the golf tournament. No city funds were used.

The biggest expense for the event was the catering — $6,865 — by Karen Esquibel.

The city didn’t go out for bids on this, and City Manager Gerald Herrera said it was not required under either the city or state regulations. If this had been a purchase for equipment or a capital outlay, it would have had to go out for bid since the regulations require this for any purchase above $5,000. But for services like this, the city manager has authority to approve any expense below $50,000.

In any case, Herrera said, several vendors were contacted and most backed down and the decision was to go with Esquibel.

City leaders came under fire last year on the editorial pages of the Independent for going to local businesses to pay for the bulk of the cost of the party with the paper accusing the city of extorting the money from business owners who were pressured into contributing for fear that if they did not contribute they may have trouble getting city contracts.

Herrera said his office has heard of no complaints other than those from the Independent about the way the money was raised to pay for the event and plans to continue this practice again this year.

He explained that because of the state’s anti-donation clause, the city itself cannot pay for any of the costs.

As for seeking contributions from local businesses, he said this is no different than what the City Council approved this past week when it set up a program that allows city utility users to donate to help needy families in Gallup to pay their utility bills when an emergency, such as an illness or loss of a job, strikes.

“All of the donations to the party were voluntary,” Herrera said. A number of the city’s employees also contributed door prizes and the three who were contacted by the Independent said the cost of the door prizes were minimal and no one pressured them to donate.

Interviews with more than a dozen of the business owners in town who contributed to the event ended up with none of them indicating that they felt any pressure to contribute to the party.

In fact, several of the people who contributed to the golf tournament weren’t even aware that they were contributing to the employee Christmas party.

Jackie McKinney, owner of Alpine Lumber, said he received a call asking to contribute to the golf tournament and immediately agreed, giving $50.

“I contribute to most of the charity golf tournaments,” he said.

Several business owners said basically the same thing — when there is a golf tournament meant to help some charity or some worthwhile cause, they expect to get a call from Alex Alvarez, the city’s golf pro, and that’s what happened in this case.

The lowest any business contributed was $50. There were a few at $100 and several at $200 from people and businesses such as A.S. Horner, Bohannan Huston, Dallago Corporation, Don Diego’s Restaurant, Four Corners Environmental, Murphy Builders, and Western New Mexico Security.

Many of these as well as those who gave $50 and $100 do business with the city at some point or other during the year.

But Pat Butler, who is a councilman and whose business, Butler Office Supply, contributed $50, said it was ridiculous to think that giving a donation or not giving a donation to the event would have any effect on a company’s ability to get city business in the future.

None of these donations were big enough to cause any concern, he said, about any influence peddling.

In fact, all of the business owners contacted by the Independent, basically laughed at the idea, saying that they did not have any thoughts of benefiting in this way when they contributed to the event.

But that’s not to say some of them didn’t have the idea that their business would benefit from their contribution.

Gurley Motors contributed $100 to the golf tournament and gave a $50 gift certificate as a door prize to be given out that night.

The gift certificate, said owner and Manager Steve Gurley, was just good business.

“Anything we can do to get someone in our door is good for us,” he said, adding that nine times out of 10, the person who gets the gift certificate will buy something that costs more than $50 or will see something else they may want to buy as a present for someone. And then there’s always the change that one of the cars on the display floor will catch their eye.

But even those who gave money and not gift certificates say that they get something out of donating even if their donations are not made public.

Sherwood Stauder, owner of Gallup Lumber, said his policy is the same as many of the family-owned businesses in town — to give back a part of their profits to help others.

So when some group comes around asking for a donation to a golf tournament or some kind of charity event and he recognizes them as a customer, he’s willing to give $25 or $50, as he did with the city’s golf tournament.

“This is all part of being part of the family here,” he said.