Ron Hartwig, the J. Paul Getty Trust’s vice president for communications, responds to Getty Operating Deficit Soars: Wood Cuts Jobs, Goats Cut Underbrush:
Sorry, but your attempt to link the Getty’s “operating deficit” to
our recent strategic move—to reduce and streamline operating costs,
both at the Trust and within our four programs, together
with programmatic reprioritization, to increase by 25% the amount of
funds available to strengthen the focus our Programs put on art—is just plain wrong! There is no link.The planning and budgetary
issues we just dealt with have to do with the long-term and have
nothing to do with our “operating deficit.” The Getty is financially
healthy now, and with careful mangement of our endowment and the steps
we’ve taken, will be in the future.I’m sorry you found the announcement about using goats to clear
the brush on the hillsides surrounding the Getty Center frivolous. Brush clearance to avoid fires is a major issue in Los Angeles and
using goats to make the clearance process environmentally sound is
applauded locally.
First things first: I’m fine with the goats. I just couldn’t resist a quip juxtaposing the firing of 40 inconveniently high-maintenance humans with the “hiring” of 60 cost-effective, ecologically correct animals. Just don’t let them get too close to Robert Irwin’s garden!
But more seriously: After the staff cuts were announced, but before the fiscal 2007 financials were posted, I fired off the obvious question to Hartwig:
Is there a budget deficit and if so, how much?
There is no budget deficit.
When I then perused the newly posted financials and discovered there was, in fact an operating deficit—to the tune of $49.36 million, I sent Hartwig a follow-up query. His reply:
You are correct, Lee, my mistake. The financial statements do show an operating deficit of $49.357 million, but this was more than offset by nonoperating revenue (investments) of more than $1 billion. Additionally, we don’t budget for depreciation which is about $45 million per year.
Most institutions that I’m familiar with strive for balanced budgets. Staff cuts are a time-honored step towards achieving this. That’s what led to my reasonable (but “wrong”) hypothesis that the two might well be connected.