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Arts Center looks to reduce costs
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@acnpapers.com
Faced with the inability to raise the needed funds to assure it meets its financial benchmarks, the Arts Center of North Texas is taking action.
On Thursday, the center's board of directors voted unanimously to look for ways to decrease overhead costs before the project reaches the end of the first half of the fiscal year on March 31. The move came after a lengthy executive session at the board's monthly meeting.
"I think we are in a position where we have to recommend to the cities that we pursue a transition process to reduce our overhead expenses," said Bobby Baggett, board president. "[We need] to consult with the cities and report where we are, and evaluate what are our options. ... I think we should take measures, with respect to the budget, to reduce costs as quickly as possible. We should try and develop a plan to transition to where we need to be at the end of six months."
Some of the benchmarks, such as coming up with a new name and completing the portion of the Six-City Trail that falls on the art center's property, have been met.
What the board and the center's staff have failed to do is raise the money required in the first six months. The original plan called for the art center to partner with CSL International to help make up for the money that was lost in May 2011, when Frisco voters revoked their city council's authority to sell $16.4 million in bonds for the project. The business plan said the benchmark for success in the first six to eight months was $3.5 million to $11 million, an amount the board felt CSL would be able to help them raise.
Through the first three months of the fiscal year, the center has received only $40,185 in donations, and plans to sell the center's naming rights for several million dollars have not materialized.
In previous years, the operating and maintenance budget was funded by the owner cities of Plano, Allen and Frisco, as well as the member cities of Fairview and Melissa. From 2004 to 2011, Plano spent $1.8 million in O&M payments, in addition to the $2.69 million it spent on capital expenditures.
That all changed for the 2011-2012 budget, which is being funded completely by donations after the cities balked at pumping additional money into a project with an uncertain future. Only Frisco has said it is pulling all financial support from the project, while the other cities are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Baggett said he wasn't sure what cuts would be made to reduce costs, saying the board would need to receive input from the project's owner cities. He did say the planning would commence immediately, since the project is in the fourth month of its fiscal year.
Executive Director Mike Simpson said his staff is continuing to work to develop public-private partnerships. He said while meetings are taking place, he didn't have any finalized agreements to report at this time.
Another plan already in place would attempt to recruit additional owner cities for the project. Simpson said he is going to approach cities in North Texas to see if they will agree to support the concept of the project, with no financial commitment needed at this time. The cities that show support will then be asked to pony up cash for the project, if and when construction begins.
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