2002-10-26

Jody Doherty, the Pittsburgh Symphony's vice-president of public affairs, is quoted by web-based post-gazette.com as saying that the anticipated deficit of "at least 750,000" cannot be confirmed until "later this month [when] the orchestra closes out its books." One problem is that the symphony's endowment, heavily " invested in the stock market," plummeted in value from $130-million "two years ago" to its present value of less than $100-million. Since the symphony is reportedly limited to withdrawing no more than 6.5 percent out of its endowment each year, the stock market decline has decreased the amount of endowment money that can go towards their "operating budget of $30 million." Another contributing factor to this year's deficit is that this year's ticket sales were $450,000 lower than anticipated.

Last year the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra had a $200,000 deficit, according to the post-gazette.com. At the time the symphony "went through a restructuring in which 10 administrative positions were eliminated." The symphony has not decided on a course of action to "reduce or eliminate the [current] deficit," Doherty reportedly stated.