In all, the Tampa museum will cut 10 positions to balance its budget for its fiscal 2006-07 year.
By SHERRI DAY
Published August 5, 2005
TAMPA - With a new museum on hold indefinitely, Tampa Museum of Art officials plan to lay off three employees to balance their budget.
In all, the museum will cut 10 positions for its fiscal 2006-07 year. Six of the posts were already vacant, museum officials said. Laid off were the curator of exhibitions, an assistant curator to the classical collection and a worker who helps prepare exhibits, museum chairwoman Cornelia Corbett said.
The museum achieved the final job cut when Sherry Stepleton, the museum's director of marketing and communications, resigned last week.
Stepleton, who joined the nonprofit museum in January, is relocating to Portland, Ore. with her husband, who has accepted a job there. She will leave her job at the end of the month. A marketing manager will absorb her duties.
Museum officials announced the moves Wednesday. They will take effect on Oct. 1, the start of the museum's fiscal year.
"It's really sad because it has nothing to do with the quality of the people, it's just a budgetary situation," Corbett said. "All this relates to the fact that we're not moving forward with the new building at the moment, and we've got to go forward with a balanced budget."
The layoff announcement was the latest development in the ongoing saga regarding the museum's future. Museum officials had planned to begin construction of a new facility in 2003. But the project collapsed amid disagreements among the city, bankers and museum officials.
Most of the eliminated jobs were added in the ramp up to construction. Museum officials would not say how much money the job cuts trimmed from the budget.
In addition to slashing jobs, museum officials also made cuts in operations. Museum staff will not be allowed to travel next year, Stepleton said. Finance officials also decreased the budget for marketing materials.
Museum treasurer Ray Ifert said museum officials are also pondering an admission increase.
The museum's finance committee and staff have been working to balance the budget for the last two months, Ifert said. They reached a decision in recent weeks.
"It was not an easy decision," Ifert said. "Our priority was to make sure we had a balanced budget for this fiscal year and also trying to make sure we have a balanced budget for 2006. That's what our focus has been."
-- Sherri Day can be reached at 813 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com
