June 1 (Bloomberg) -- The embattled New York City Opera lost $11.3 million in the year ending June 30, 2008, when the company still believed that Belgian Gerard Mortier would lead it into a new era.

According to City Opera’s tax return, provided to Bloomberg upon request, revenue, including ticket sales and income from donations and investments, fell 23 percent to $32.9 million. Expenses jumped 11 percent to $44.2 million.

Ticket sales for the year fell by more than $1 million, to $12.1 million. Direct public support tumbled $4.5 million, or 24 percent, to $14.3 million. The 66-year-old company’s $11.3 million deficit was its largest since at least 1999. In ran a surplus in the year ending in June 2007 of $2.8 million.

Nationwide, cultural organizations are coping with declining contributions and ticket sales as the economy contracts. Asked to run City Opera while he was still at the Paris Opera, Mortier withdrew in November, less than a year before he was to arrive. He said in a statement that “given the significantly reduced funds available” he couldn’t revitalize the company according to his vision, which anticipated a budget of $60 million a year. He has been named to run the opera house in Madrid.

The deficit on the tax return helps explain why the so- called people’s opera was forced to go to court twice since October for permission to borrow up to $24 million from its endowment.

Mortier’s Pay

The return lists miscellaneous expenses and “other professional fees” of $2 million. Pascal Nadon, a company spokesman, said the figure includes travel, lodging, marketing and “per diem” expenses for performers and production personnel, without providing specifics.

The document doesn’t disclose Mortier’s pay or expenses, nor would Nadon.

Music Director George Manahan is listed as the highest-paid staff member. The conductor earned $413,000 in salary and benefits. The salary increased 2.7 percent and the company changed how it displays benefits. Benefits “did not change significantly” in the past year, Nadon said.

David Titcomb, a trombonist and the orchestra manager, was paid $240,000, with a 4.7 percent salary increase. Robin Thompson, the former producing artistic director, who supervised casting and repertoire and helped run the company while it awaited a new chief, earned $229,000, his salary up 2.7 percent.

Jane Gullong, who left as executive director in the fall of 2008, was paid $254,000, up 2.7 percent. She was named president of the Brooklyn Philharmonic in November.

Genovese Vanderhoof & Associates, a Toronto-based arts management and fundraising consultant, earned $133,000.

The tax return of the neighboring Metropolitan Opera isn’t complete, said Peter Clark, a spokesman.

The period covered by the document predates the 2008-09 season when the company did not perform at its Lincoln Center home, citing renovations at the David H. Koch Theater. George Steel signed on as general manager and artistic director in January after a brief sojourn at the Dallas Opera.

To contact the reporter on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 1, 2009 00:00 EDT