County Won’t Give $17,000 To Symphony Orchestra Had Been Promised Money From Hotel Room Tax

Already battered by Mother Nature, the Spokane Symphony has been hit with another unexpected blow, this one from county commissioners.

Saying there are higher priorities than helping promote live music, commissioners Kate McCaslin and Phil Harris voted this week not to give $17,000 symphony officials were counting on.

McCaslin said she’d consider giving the symphony some money to help advertise its concert during Valleyfest in September. That concert probably draws visitors from Idaho, she said.

But McCaslin wants to spend most of the $17,000 marketing the county’s golf courses and Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. The money comes from a tax on motel rooms and can only be spent promoting tourism.

“While I think that the symphony is a wonderful organization that provides a variety of benefits to this community, I do not think that it’s something that we ought to be spending tax dollars on,” said McCaslin.

Commissioner John Roskelley argued that the symphony needs the money.

“Seventeen-thousand dollars is a lot in their budget,” said Roskelley. “It would be nice if the county followed through on this because we did pledge the money” last year, before McCaslin was elected.

Executive Director Jonathan Martin said the symphony’s budget is $2.1 million. The private, nonprofit organization was hit hard by the ice and snow storms in November and December, the season it normally makes its biggest profits.

Ticket sales for The Nutcracker and other holiday performances slumped by at least $55,000, he said. In response, the symphony has already “tightened the budget wherever we could without hurting the music” and is holding a benefit concert tonight.

The symphony has received money from the county for at least nine years, and was counting on it this year, as well, Martin said. There’s little chance to make up the money before the fiscal year ends on June 30.

“The majority of our expenses are committed already” for salaries and room rentals, he said. “It would definitely be a challenge for us to try and offset that loss.”

Martin said he hopes to meet with commissioners soon and “get them to take another look at this … The county has always been very supportive.”

The county expects to collect about $342,000 this year from the hotel-motel tax.

Commissioners have approved giving $10,000 to the American Music Festival, which is part of the Fourth of July celebration in Riverfront Park; $20,000 to the Spokane Regional International Trade and Development Alliance; and $285,000 to the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Symphony concerts draw listeners to Spokane from Canada, Idaho and Montana. Martin, who headed the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for 14 years, said the strength of that group was used to draw new businesses to Atlanta.

“The symphony is the canary in the mine,” he said. “It’s a pretty good indication of the quality of the cultural life in the community.”

, DataTimes