The PSO recently reported a shortfall of $500,000 for the 2004-05 season, despite a rise in both pops and classical subscriptions. The shortfall follows a surplus of $456,000 the previous season and a deficit of $1.73 million in 2002-03.
Despite the current shortfall, the editorial notes, musicians' base bay is about to rise by $17,000.
The musicians had agreed to two years of pay cuts if, starting in the 2005-06 season, their pay would rise to 95 percent of the average salaries at four orchestras—the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
The editorial finishes by pointing to the Cleveland Orchestra's $7.4 million deficit as an example of "another world-class symphony struggling in a similar-sized market" and says "it's time for the PSO to face the music."