Maitland cultural partners resist 5 percent cut

Maitland City Council asked its cultural partners on July 18 to cut another 5 percent out of their budgets for next year. On Monday, the leaders of the Maitland Public Library, Art & History Museums — Maitland and the Performing Arts of Maitland came back with similar conclusions — a 5 percent cut would devastate their organizations.

“For you to come back and say 5 percent is to cut a little bit of our heart out,” A&H Board President Roger Pickar said. “You’re telling us to run but run with a broken toe; that we believe in you, but not that much.”

Unexpected costs

The organizations have already cut their budgets by 15 percent in the last three years. The city had originally asked them to keep their budgets flat for 2012 before it found out various utility fees, such as water, sewer and trash, were going up and that the city is on the cusp of a cash shortfall for the new city hall project.

“Staff is having to cinch their belts up, and it seemed appropriate that as family we all share in that,” Councilman Phil Bonus said.

But Councilwoman Bev Reponen disagreed. “They’ve gotten cut 5 percent for three years,” she said. “You don’t treat people that way that you want to perform for you. There’s a stopping point and we’ve passed it.”

The cultural partners’ three directors, speaking one by one in front of Council on Monday, attempted to shield their organizations from deep cuts.

Library

Maitland Public Library Director Ellen Schellhause presented a proposal that trims the library’s $560,000 budget by 1 percent, or $5,600.

“We cannot come back with a 5 percent cut — we would lose too many programs,” Schellhause said, adding that demand for library services and attendance at programs have been steadily increasing. The library saw a 14.5 percent increase in youth programming attendance in summer 2010 compared with the previous summer.

The city had suggested that the library look into reducing hours on Sundays, but that’s the library’s busiest day, she said. And opening later and closing earlier would cut into children’s and adult programming. She said closing on Wednesday would have the least impact.

The city is also looking into reducing its health care and insurance costs for employees. Councilman Ivan Valdes said there will be significant savings found there.

While Bonus pushed the library for more savings, Mayor Howard Schieferdecker said the 1 percent cut was acceptable. “This is fine from my perspective, and you shouldn’t do anything else.”

Art & History Museums

Andrea Bailey Cox, executive director of Art & History Museums — Maitland, presented a proposal that trims the organization’s $440,000 budget by 1.75 percent, or $7,747. That would be achieved by upping its revenue projection by $10,000 and by eliminating its security guard shift on Mondays.

The organization has seen a $116,00 loss in revenue from all funding sources, including grants, city support and revenue streams, since 2009.

The Maitland Historical Association merged with the Maitland Art Center in May 2010 to form Art & History Museums — Maitland. That merger has saved the organization $52,000. It has cut its staff by 20 percent.

“A&H cannot identify any further expense cuts that do not interfere with progress towards our blueprint of financial independence,” Cox wrote in the budget response letter to City Council on Aug. 1.

But Councilwoman Linda Frosch said nonessential services have to be cut over essential services such as police and fire. “A 5 percent budget cut is what we asked for. We need to get this through.”

Reponen disagreed. “I’m uncomfortable asking someone to continue working hard and continuing to cut. That’s not the way this needs to go.”

Performing Arts of Maitland

Jeff Flowers, former city councilman and president of the Performing Arts of Maitland, presented a proposal to save $6,000. It would achieve that by selling the city a piano the city is already using, at a value of $3,560. It would also impose a $7 fee for food trucks attending the Food Truck Café event at Lake Lily on Tuesday nights, where PAM performs. The food trucks are already paying $35 to the city for their space.

Flowers said 800-900 people are estimated to attend the Café event every week, many are “less affluent residents” that can’t afford to take their families to a restaurant.

“This is an out-of-the-box solution that gives you your goals and gives me performances at the truck stop,” he said.

Bonus commended Flowers for his creative solutions, even if “It’s a little Enron like, that piano thing.”

Reponen wasn’t pleased. She said the additional $7 would be passed on to the consumer and the city could lose money and truck participation. “This isn’t a cut in PAM’s budget, but looking to someone else to pay the bill, pay the freight. … Increased prices are the wrong thing to do in this economy.”

Councilman Ivan Valdes said the trucks would just have to sell one more sandwich to cover the $7 cost. “They all run out of food by 8 o’clock anyway because so many people are going.”

Decision on Aug. 22

Valdes said he was sure that if the city cuts these organizations’ funding that the public would rally and raise the needed money. “If we reduce the budget of the library by $10,000 — and I’m not saying we should do that — the people who love the library will fill this need.”

Bonus, citing the recently crippled stock market, was less optimistic.

“The days are darkening and this has been an important and interesting night,” he said. “As we go forward with final budget discussions, we’ll engender further information.”

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the cultural partners and stormwater budgets on Aug. 22.