Historical Society to Lay Off 8; Museum Project Cited

Eight San Diego Historical Society staff members will be laid off temporarily in a step to keep operating costs within budget while funds for a new museum are being sought, the society’s executive director said Thursday.

Richard Esparza said four full-time and four part-time personnel will be let go over the next three weeks in across-the-board cuts in most of the society’s eight departments.

The board of directors decided Tuesday to make the layoffs when the finance committee submitted budget projections for the next year.

“Our operating fund did not reach target level this year,� Esparza said. “We are operating in the black, and we were going to be in a situation that was forcing us to be running a deficit.�

Last year there was a $4,000 deficit, which the board did not want to incur again.

“It would be unwise to take on more expense loads, so we bit the bullet and did something about it,� Esparza said.

He said a major reason for the move was construction of the museum in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado.

“Our highest priority is the completion of our new museum,� he said. “We have taken cutbacks in other departments so we can concentrate our resources on our new museum.�

About $2.2 million has been raised toward the $4 million needed to complete the facility, which now houses in the lower level the archival collections--including 200,000 San Diego area photographs dating from 1867. The second phase, now under construction, will house an exhibit detailing San Diego’s history from 1850 to the present on the main level, and will contain administrative and publications offices.

The society’s operating budget is $50,000 a year; it employs 33 people and more than 400 volunteers.

“It is difficult to raise operating funds,� Esparza said. “We have been falling 25% to 30% short in that fund, so we have to reduce the operating expense until we get the new museum completed or until we raise funds.�

Museum hours will not be cut at the Junipero Serra Museum in Presidio Park, where artifacts from the missionary’s life are on display along with authentic Spanish furniture, or at the partly completed museum in Balboa Park.

The society plans to reopen Villa Montezuma, a historic 1887 Victorian mansion on K Street in June 1987; it was damaged by fire in March.

The layoffs will slow the processing of new collections and reduce research services to the public as well as the training of volunteers.

“Our ability to respond will be diminished, but the public shouldn’t notice the impact,� Esparza said.

He added that the length of the layoffs will be “completely dependent on our cash position, but if we are able to raise more money in the next fiscal year, it could be as temporary as six months.�

The society’s last layoffs were four years ago, Esparza said.