Orchestra Ends Season With Surplus : Extra donations help the Pacific Symphony rebound from its financial troubles by reducing its deficit by about 20%.

IRVINE —  During a recession that has hurt many arts organizations, the Pacific Symphony ended the 1991-92 fiscal year with a tiny surplus. More significantly, the group lopped off a sizable chunk of its accumulated deficit, orchestra officials announced Tuesday.

The orchestra topped its operating budget of $5.3 million by nearly $41,000, or just under 1%. That came as good news on the heels of the 1990-91 season, in which the orchestra had come up short of its budget by $131,000. This year’s surplus, added to extra donations from the board and a grant from the Irvine Foundation, reduced the deficit by about 20%, to $658,000.

“Even balancing the budget this year would have been an accomplishment because the vast majority of orchestras in the country are in deficit,” executive director Louis G. Spisto said Tuesday.

“We told (the board) that we had to balance the budget and retire a portion of the deficit. And we did,” he said.

Each of the 40 board members is required to give a minimum of $10,000 a year, according to Spisto. This year, the board donated more than $500,000.

The orchestra earns the bulk of its income from ticket sales and from playing such events as the ballet series sponsored by the Orange County Performing Arts Center, according to Spisto.

Ticket revenue was up 7% over last year, to a little more than $3 million. Individual ticket sales increased by about 16%, but subscription sales went down slightly.

“In a recession, people take are more cautious in putting down money six months ahead of time,” Spisto said. “They take a wait-and-see attitude.”

Earned revenue for contracted services was up 23% over the previous year, to approximately $775,000, but still fell below the $970,000 it earned from outside contracts two years ago. In 1991, the orchestra had seen a marked decline in the number of outside events it had played in 1990.

Altogether, fund raising increased approximately 4%, to $1.4 million.

“It’s hard to raise money when people wonder if you are going to be here in another year or five years because of a deficit,” board president Janice M. Johnson said Tuesday. “But I hope in the next two years we will completely erase it.”

Johnson said several other factors contributed to the year’s financial results.

Among these, the musicians accepted a new contract “that didn’t overtax our budget,” she said. The orchestra also extended music director Carl St. Clair’s contract for another five years, providing an additional measure of stability.

The administrative staff cut costs and the new Pacific Symphony Orchestra League raised $77,000 in its first fund-raising event last month.

Johnson, however, predicts that raising funds next year “probably will be more difficult than last because of the recession.

“The most generous people in the community have been our developers, and they are hurting the most,” she said. “It will take a while for them to come back.”

Even so, Spisto said: “The success this year gives the board confidence to go out and raise more money. If the economy takes a real downturn, more than it did this year, that may affect our ticket sales. But otherwise we’re right on target for our five-year plan, and this gives us the ability to plan for our artistic future.”