Philharmonic Society Suffers $275,000 Deficit : Finances: Officials blame poor ticket sales and the failure to reach a $700,000 fund-raising goal for largest shortfall ever.

The Orange County Philharmonic Society ended its 1990-91 fiscal year with a deficit of about $275,000, its largest shortfall ever, officials said Monday at their annual members’ meeting.

The red ink was attributed to poor ticket sales and failure to reach a $700,000 fund-raising goal toward its $2.6-million budget, said Erich A. Vollmer, OCPS executive director, before the meeting. Both problems stemmed largely from the lagging economy, Vollmer said.

Vollmer characterized the deficit as a temporary, “one-year, considerable financial deficit.” But he said that subscription sales for the coming season are down slightly from where they were at the same time last year, and because the economic climate doesn’t seem to be improving, prospects don’t appear bright for the season’s fund-raising or subscriptions.

The organization will release a final financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30 once an audited report is ready at the end of August. Last week the society canceled an Oct. 4-6 program of six Tchaikovsky symphonies with the Moscow State Symphony because of insufficient ticket sales.

To ensure financial strength, the organization has also “slightly” scaled back its budget for 1991-92 to $2.5 million, a figure “we felt sure we could live within,” said Vollmer, who declined to specify that number. The society recently froze salaries, consolidated some part-time positions and will consider eliminating one full-time position. Vollmer said he will make that decision over the next month or so.

“We will also put in motion a fund-raising plan that will involve the board more than ever,” he said.

Officials also plan next year to incorporate the same deficit-reduction method they used to eliminate OCPS’s share of a reported $300,000 loss resulting from poor ticket sales for the ambitious New World Symphony Festival that the organization co-sponsored in 1988.

OCPS essentially billed itself monthly to help erase the deficit, Vollmer said. It co-sponsored the three-week festival, which featured the Miami-based New World Symphony, a training orchestra, with the Orange County Performing Arts Center and UC Irvine.

“Given the (slowed) economy, it’s unrealistic to start chipping away at the deficit this year, but next year we will,” he said.

A drop in corporate and foundation contributions--not individual donations--led to the fund-raising shortfall, Vollmer noted. Officials reported Monday that OCPS’s Women’s Committees, its main support group, raised a record total of $602,000, mostly from individuals.

Also on Monday, William P. Conlin of Newport Beach was elected president of the OCPS board. Conlin is president of CalComp, an Anaheim-based subsidiary of Lockheed Corp.

New board members elected were William A. Furlow, marketing director for The Times Orange County Edition; Marilynn Manderscheid, a music education consultant for the Fountain Valley School District; Lee V. Merrick, formerly president of PCW Communications Inc., a magazine publisher; Ellen Appel Olivier, president of Ellen Appel Public Relations, and Patrick T. Seaver, partner in the Latham & Watkins law firm.

The recession has made it rough going for other leading Orange County arts organizations, particularly the Pacific Symphony. Citing fund-raising efforts hampered by the sluggish economy, the organization recently announced it fell $200,000 short of its June 30 goal of raising $1.5 million and that its accumulated deficit had shot up to $800,000.