4 days ago
Galt City Council considers money to help Liberty Ranch boosters
May 31—GALT — A high school booster club is getting some financial help months after some $200,000 in funds were stolen.
The Galt City Council will consider approving the allocation of $1,000 in public benefit funds from Vice Mayor Paul Sandhu to the Liberty Ranch Hawks Booster Club at its Tuesday, June 4 meeting.
Sandhu asked for the funds to be allocated to the organization during the May 20 council meeting.
"Their financial (situation), as everybody knows, is not that great," Sandhu said last week. "So I'd like to give my $1,000 to them."
The Galt Joint Union High School District announced on March 20 that funds were found to be missing from the Liberty Ranch High School Sports Booster Club following an audit earlier in the month.
The club filed a civil complaint against its former treasurer, Carmela Cuadrado Baker in Sacramento County Superior Court on March 20, along withe her husband Paul and 10 other named people.
The suit alleges that Carmela Baker used by the club's debit card at 51 different businesses, with the largest coming at Instacart, where she spent more than $53,000.
There were also purchases of more than $44,000 on Amazon, more than $27,000 at Walmart, nearly $18,000 at Costco and nearly $13,000 through PayPal.
Other notable spending included more than $7,000 through AirBNB, nearly $7,000 at the City of Galt, $4,600 at Disneyland, nearly $5,000 at Save Mart and more than $3,000 at Stratton's Pizza.
According to the suit, Carmela Baker is a para-educator at the Galt Joint Union Elementary
School District who began volunteering with the Booster Club in 2019.
The club raises and distributes funds for 17 athletic teams at Liberty Ranch High School through events and concessions at the Hawks Nest and Hawks Stadium.
Money raised goes into a pool, which is then used to distribute to teams for equipment, team dinners, senior nights and banquets, among other events.
Last June, the council agreed to re-establish the City Council Public Benefit Funds for the use of "worthy projects, programs, organizations, or other purposes of benefit to the community."
Each council member was allotted $1,000 in a fiscal year for a grand total of $5,000 to be distributed. Said funds need to be used in full each fiscal year and cannot be rolled over.
Tuesday's meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Galt City Hall, 380 Civic Drive. It will also be livestreamed at the council's YouTube channel,
