Cutting costs - Ricketts defends use of JFF funds

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Michael Ricketts said that prudent spending is the way forward for the association as it looks to control debts incurred over the last few years.

The JFF is said to be over $300 million in debt from spending done by the previous administration and Ricketts said that he was always mindful of this, and as a result, had set a mandate that careful spending would be done in order to cut costs.

The Federation recently bought a Toyota Coaster bus to transfer its employees and its various teams around the island for events and competitions. This bus is considered more cost effective than the previous ones rented from the Jamaica Urban Transit Company to transport its personnel. While there had been ridicule about this decision from the public on social media, Ricketts defended his decision saying that it is a smart one in the long run.

PRUDENT SPENDING

"We campaigned on prudent spending. It cost us, per year, more than what it cost us to purchase this bus," he said. "Going to Montego Bay, the other day, for the (FIFA) Summit, we would've had to hire or rent a bus to take our staff down. However, we have a bus and a driver who is an employee of the JFF. "

Ricketts said that the JFF's budget this year is roughly $400 million and much of it is already being put to use on the completion of the dormitory at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

"We are in the process of completing the dormitory that, last year, was an issue and we put a committee in place who now has the responsibility to ensure that the dorm and the facilities are completed within reasonable time. We are hoping that in six weeks, the dorms will be completed and we can give up a rented facility and move into the dormitory. These are some of the ways that we plan to really cut costs and eventually liquidate our debts.

"Like I said, I campaigned on prudent spending. These are some of the things we would like to do, and, of course, consultations with the vice-president, Gary Sinclair, who has responsibility for the treasury, so we want to ensure that we don't waste money."