Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Cash Strapped Attractions Cut Services But Not Execs' Pay

By Adam Nichols | May 23, 2010 11:33am | Updated on May 24, 2010 7:21am

By Adam Nichols

DNAinfo News Editor

The fat cats were going to let the porcupine take the fall.

The Wildlife Conservation Society – which runs the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium – produced a spoof ad last year showing the zoo director laying off the animals in a desperate effort to fill a massive budget shortfall.

But a New York Post investigation found the zoo was more willing to cut its attractions than its executives’ huge salaries.

Society Director Steven Sanderson’s salary and benefits – including an Upper East Side apartment – was worth $1 million-a-year in 2008 and hasn’t changed since, the Post reported.

And John Calvelli, the society’s chief of public relations, was paid a huge $485,635, according to tax reports studied by the Post.

With revenue down by as much as 50 percent for the year to June 2009,  taxpayer-funded museums and cultural attractions across the city were forced to cut hundreds of jobs and slash programs.

But the Post found the bosses of the 33 attractions were barely affected.

The tax records showed the Metropolitan Museum of Art suffered a 40 percent drop in revenue, cut 357 positions last year and laid off workers for the first time in nearly 40 years.

But it still paid its chief investment officer $1.2 million in 2008 as it began to feel the squeeze, the tax records showed.

At Carnegie Hall, executive director Sir Clive Gillinson was paid $965,538, before it cut its performance schedule as revenue dropped by $6 million, the Post reported.

And at Lincoln Center, President Reynold Levy was paid $1.18 million, as staffing levels were cut by nine percent.