What a Mess in Arizona

Phoenix Symphony, the state budget and the sorry state of education.

From the Tuesday, May 19th Phoenix Business Journal:

The Phoenix Symphony Association Inc. and Phoenix Symphony Musicians reached an agreement to reduce salaries by $2 million over the next three years.

The musicians have agreed to an aggregate 17 percent pay cut over the next three seasons.

After weeks of local rumors — ranging from bad to worse — it seems that for the time being a settlement has been reached. Before yesterday’s announcement, the union reported that the symphony association was considering part-time contracts.

This emergency settlement was reached in order to prevent a severe budget crisis and a major reduction in the orchestra’s prestige. A standing Collective Bargaining Agreement was still in effect and had to be re-opened.

This step follows voluntary staff pay cuts, layoffs, furloughs and reduction of guest artist fees. In addition, administrative and program budget costs have been trimmed.

In other words, having some kind of job is better than no job at all. The base salary will now stand around $35,000 per year.

State in crisis

At nearly 16 percent, Arizona’s recent shortfall in its $9.9 billion budget was the biggest by percentage of any state in the current fiscal year.

Things may not look better any time soon. Without a clear plan for revenue the state’s future budget is looking fairly dismal. Another huge shortfall is expected in the next fiscal year — some estimates put it as high as $3 billion.

Education

Teachers are being asked to make due with less. In the Mesa district alone, over 400 teachers are expected to lose their jobs.

As an occasional substitute, the calls for music subbing went from several per day to stopping completely last January. Full-time teachers have been expected to juggle their schedules and fill in the gaps where substitutes were normally used.

Bottom of the food chain

State, county and city funding for the arts, one expects, will be next to nothing for the foreseeable future. With negotiations coming up soon for the Arizona Opera Orchestra, I expect more wage freezes and service cuts for us too.

The picture was painted so sunny just a mere 10 months ago. Looks like people were being overly optimistic.

Now its “brother, can you spare a dime?”