Musicians' union gives its position in detail (vs Jacksonville Symphony Association)

[Omaha Steve]

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/406107/mike-clark/2012-12-31/musicians-union-gives-its-position-detail

Note to readers: The Times-Union recently published letters from both the Jacksonville Symphony Association and the musicians' union regarding their contract dispute. Due to space constraints, a shorter version of the union's letter was published. Here is the complete version.


In the Times Union’s article of Dec. 4th about the Jacksonville Symphony Association (JSA), the Association’s chairman-elect, Martin Connor, is quoted saying, “It’s hard to exaggerate the seriousness of our problem.” The article goes on to say, “He was talking about the operating deficits the symphony has been experiencing for years and the accumulated debt, which he says is about $3 million.”

Actually the Symphony Board seems able to exaggerate its problems with great ease. The Association has been using the $3 million figure for many years, prompting questions about why that number would remain constant. On Nov. 29, 2007, then Symphony Board Chair James Van Vleck, published a fact sheet on the organization’s website claiming that the “JSA has accumulated an approximate $3,000,000 deficit since 2000.” An investigation into the audited financial statements of the organization reveals the Association manipulates both its finances, and its presentation of the situation to maximize the perception of debt in the years in which it negotiates contracts with the orchestra musicians.

The sum total of money owed by the Jacksonville Symphony Association consists of a line of credit and money owed to vendors at the end of each year, referred to as “Accounts Payable.” For the last ten years, the credit line balance at the end of each fiscal year has varied between zero and $600,000, with two exceptions. During 2007 and 2012, in both cases while negotiating contracts with the orchestra musicians, the Association chose to nearly quadruple the draw on the line of credit at fiscal year-end. Following the last contract settlement, the draw was reduced to zero for two years. In spite of inflating the perception of debt during negotiations, the numbers do not approach $3 million, as can be seen below.



Total Indebtedness of the JSA (Source: JSA Audited Financial Statements)