OCPAC posts $359,000 surplus

Bucking deficits that have hit some of its counterparts around the country, the Orange County Performing Arts Center announced Tuesday that it had posted a $359,000 surplus for the 2004-05 fiscal year, which ended June 30. The results continued a streak of break-even or better financial performances since OCPAC opened in 1986.

To meet its $41.6-million budget, the Costa Mesa center, which runs without government support, raised a record $8.7 million in operating donations.

Now OCPAC has a year to work on a defining fiscal test: the September 2006 opening of a $200-million concert hall whose fundraising campaign has $73 million to go and whose operating expenses are likely to stretch the center’s revenue needs significantly.