Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409230032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cutler said he wouldn't know how many or which of the park's 22 employees will be laid off until he has had a chance to meet with the park's finance committee to go over the budget in depth.
Some Explore staffers are seasonal workers whose jobs would have ended anyway when the park closes for the winter Nov. 1, he noted. Perhaps as many as seven would have gone off the payroll without the cuts, he said.
Now, however, Cutler said he'll be forced to make deeper cuts that could eliminate three more jobs, to reduce Explore's payroll from 22 to 12 - although he cautioned that those numbers are just estimates.
Some of the bills Explore owes are to companies that also are major contributors to the living-history park in eastern Roanoke County, and Cutler expressed hope that they would write off the bills as a donation.
"The staff layoffs will be extremely difficult," Cutler said. But he said visitors to the park likely wouldn't notice any change. "Clearly, our first line of defense is the interpretive staff. People expect to receive an informative program. The buildings by themselves are not worth the $4 admission. They have to be brought to life by the interpreters."
Cutler announced the impending cuts following a meeting of Explore's governing board, where the principal item of discussion was the park's finances.
The park's revenues in its first two months of operation are living up to expectations, he said. The park's $926,000 annual budget comes mostly from state and local government funding, not admission fees, he noted.
The problem, said General Manager George Nester, is that the park ran up unexpected expenses during May and June that caused it to finish the fiscal year with a deficit. "We're in the hole $220,000," Nester said.
Cutler explained those bills this way: "We were in kind of a D-Day mentality in May and June. We did the minimal amount of work necessary to have a good-looking park ready for the public on July 1. We had people working around the clock with the meter running.
"Nothing was done that shouldn't have been done," but, he added, "we got into some construction we could have postponed" until more funds were available.
For instance, he said, the single biggest expense was $50,000 spent toward building public restrooms.
Originally, Explore had planned to incorporate the restrooms into its early 19th century barn. Later, Cutler said, park planners concluded that would damage the historic authenticity of the barn and decided to build a separate facility.
Thinking it was crucial for the park to have public restrooms when it opened, Explore staffers made that a top construction priority this spring. But when they saw how much the project was costing, they "mothballed" the unfinished restrooms until more funds were available, Cutler said. Until then, the park will get by with portable toilets, he said.
Another unanticipated expense was renting construction equipment needed to get the site in shape - and paying the operators.
Cutler acknowledged that the park didn't have "proper controls" at the time to keep tabs on expenses. That's why Explore hired Nester, former Vinton town manager, this summer to work three days a week as general manager at a salary of $40,000 annually to develop the administrative procedures it needs for daily operations.
by CNB