City to Study Options for Art Center Funds

Reaffirming its support for the Huntington Beach Art Center, the City Council directed city staff this week to explore ways to finance its operation.

“Closing the Art Center is not acceptable,” Councilman Tom Harman said. “We want to keep the Art Center,” which opened in March 1995. “We want to stay involved.”

During a discussion Monday of what the city’s financial role should be, council members also asked the staff to explore the possibility of finding a private, nonprofit group to take over the facility.

The city allocated $81,000 to the Art Center for the current fiscal year. For fiscal 1996-97, however, finance officials are projecting a $4 million general fund deficit, so the council is seeking ways to cut back on expenditures for city programs and services.

Community Services Director Ron Hagan said the Art Center’s total annual budget is about $400,000, mostly raised from the center’s programs, events and ticket sales and by the Art Center Foundation, a private, nonprofit group.

For the next fiscal year, Hagan said, the foundation is seeking $150,000 from the city.

If the city and the foundation cannot come up with $400,000 for operating costs next year, Hagan said, the center’s staff and programs would have to be cut.

“It’s a tough economic time to get a new program off the ground,” he said. “If neither the city or the foundation has the money, . . . we’re going to have to cut back drastically.”