HUNTINGTON BEACH : Fund Crunch Could Delay Art Center

Caught in the middle of a city budget crunch, Huntington Beach’s first art center, almost two decades in the works, could be forced to delay its opening a bit longer.

The Huntington Beach Art Center, to be jointly funded by the city and a nonprofit foundation, is scheduled to open on July 1, 1991. But if the city can’t come up with $30,000 to hire a secretary and buy clerical supplies needed to help organize private fund-raising efforts, directors might have to postpone the downtown center’s debut, Michael Mudd, the city’s cultural affairs manager, told the City Council this week.

During a study session on the 1990-91 budget Monday night, council members reiterated their February verbal agreement that the city will pay the center’s operating costs, estimated at $300,000 to $410,000 a year. The Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation, in return, has committed to pay the $750,000 cost of renovating the former office building that will become the center, as well as establish a $3-million arts endowment fund.

City administrators, however, said they have not earmarked any money from the upcoming budget for the center. The city, which has already spent $750,000 to buy the building at 538 Main St., had not planned to pay for any staff until 1991-92, City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said.

But without a secretary and a desk, computer and other necessary supplies, the foundation may be unable to raise the rest of the money for renovation and promote the center’s inaugural exhibits and events, Mudd said.

“We’ve agreed not to open the center until it is at the level that we want,” Mudd said.

The foundation so far has collected $125,000, but after a series of planned fund-raisers expects to raise the remainder of the targeted $750,000 by mid-December, Mudd said.

Mudd suggested that the city increase its 10% hotel bed tax, implement an admissions tax at movie theaters and other entertainment venues or create a 1% developer fee for the arts.

Council members, who will decide Monday whether to reallocate the needed $30,000 sought, are divided on the issue. Mayor Thomas J. Mays and Councilwoman Grace Winchell both said they believe that the city should spend the money this year. But others were undecided.