OCPAC Reverses Downward Trend That Began in ’92 : Finances: The center winds up with enough to leave the operating budget with a surplus and to increase the endowment.

Exceeding expectations for both ticket sales and donations, the Orange County Performing Arts Center not only has ended up in the black for the ninth consecutive year but has reversed a downward trend that began in 1992.

Tom Tomlinson--who took over center operations in 1993--announced preliminary findings Tuesday that box office receipts came to $16.5 million last year, about $2 million more than anticipated. Concessions and other income raised the total to $18.8 million, Tomlinson said.

Expenses, meanwhile, came to $23 million, creating a shortfall of $4.2 million. But fund raising yielded $5.1 million, again far beyond the goal.

Bolstering the total with earned interest from the center’s endowment, officials wound up with enough to leave the operating budget with a small surplus and to increase the endowment itself to $8.2 million, for the first time crossing the halfway point of Tomlinson’s goal of $15 million. The figures were announced during the center’s annual board meeting.

The $39,000 surplus is the smallest ever for the center. Even in 1993, when the annual fund-raising goal was not met, the operating surplus was $205,284--and that had been an all-time low. The 1992 surplus had been $500,000.

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But a spokesman for Tomlinson--whose promotion from executive director to center president also was announced Tuesday--said the decision to place more available funds in the endowment, and less in the operating budget, reflects a shift in emphasis since Tomlinson took over from original director Thomas Kendrick.

“In the best of all possible worlds,” Tomlinson said, “our net bottom line to operations (would) break even or close to it, and any surplus would go to long-term fund balance positions such as our endowment, which is exactly what happened.”

He said the center would make “no change” in its fund-raising strategy. “Just as all arts organizations, we continue to expand our base and (hope) that this reversal is the first of a multiyear trend.

“I’m very encouraged,” he added, “that for first time in three years we have raised more than in the previous year. That says a lot for our volunteers and our development office.” He noted that the development office was fully staffed last year for the first time since 1993.

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He also attributed the turnaround to an economy that was strengthening throughout most of the year, and a resulting increase in confidence among donors.

“The county bankruptcy came so late in the year that we didn’t even see an indirect effect,” he said. “Actually, even after the bankruptcy, ticket sales to ‘The Sound of Music’ exceeded expectations.”

Earlier, in a prepared statement, he had noted that “the center has not been directly affected by the current financial crisis facing the county. The center does not receive any government support, and its own endowment portfolio is invested in accordance with conservative financial policies.”

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The increase in box office receipts was attributed to the addition of several shows to the center’s schedule, such as “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Jelly’s Last Jam,” that originally had not been figured into the budget.

“Artistically,” Tomlinson added, “the center also had a banner year, presenting an impressive list of international attractions, from the Royal Ballet and Nederlans Dans Theater to ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Tommy.’ ”

He further noted that average paid attendance to center-sponsored events increased from 82.8% to 86% of the hall’s 3,000-seat capacity.

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Average paid attendance at all events in the building (where the Orange County Philharmonic Society, the Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific and others also sponsor programs) was 81.2% of capacity, up two percentage points.

“Last year, more than 636,000 people attended events at the center,” Tomlinson said in the prepared statement.