I just looked at Liberty Science Center's tax returns - available at www.guidestar.org (you have to give them your email address and then you can log in and view tax returns of almost any non-profit large enough to be required to file one), and I found a lot rather substantial expenses that could more than make up for this $2.5 million shortfall. Let\'s start with the seven vice presidents, each making more than $110,000/year, except for one making $40,000 (perhaps because they started later in the year), and CEO Koster making $310,000. Not saying that some of them aren\'t worth it but do we really need 7 vice presidents all making six figure salaries?

Apparently in 2006, LSC took four students and two teachers to NASA Headquarters in Houston, TX for ten days - that couldn\'t have been cheap.

Their tax returns appear to have been prepared by KPMG, a Big 4 accounting firm. The Big 4 accounting firms by and large have the highest hourly billing rates - according to the return they paid $65,000 in accounting fees. Seems like a museum that is just one location is not that complicated of an operation and has no need to use a Big 4 accounting firm, a smaller local firm that charges lower rates would do just fine.

It would appear they shelled out more than $110,000 in legal fees to Pitney Hardin law firm, which I know is one of those white-shoe firms that charges hundreds of dollars per hour and serves mostly mid-sized to large corporations as well as ultra-wealth individuals who need estate planning work done (although maybe they provided them a lower hourly billing rate because LSC is a non-profit). A relatively simple operation like the LSC would do just fine using a Jersey City or Hoboken firm with lower hourly billing rates - how many legal issues can they possibly run into other than the usual slip-and-falls on their floors or some idiotic visitor who decides to stick his hand in the shark tank?

$128,000 on travel expenses and $32,000 on conferences. Some of that could be cut back - it's a museum, in one place, what kind of travel do you really need to do?

Then think about cutting back your outrageous ticket prices and parking charges - typical family of four (two adults, two children) ends up spending around $60 when you factor in the parking charge, and that doesn't even include admission to the IMAX! Cheaper than a ballgame or a day at Six Flags, yes, but sorry LSC, you are a museum and people aren't willing to pay as much especially when there are other museums in the area charging less. Like somebody else said, they should consider having some free admission days to generate interest in the center - people who come for free one day might return as a paying guest on another.

I can see why this place managed to piss off a lot of its corporate sponsors.

This bailout is atrocious!!!!
This museum is inadequate in teaching at best. The executives are frauds, the children can do better. If I was a teacher I would bring then to Queens Science Center!!!!

35 Board Members?!?!?

I would love to know when they all met to discuss the safety and security of the organization they represent and are of the board of.

This is B.S.

We have all seen these big companies give their execs big salaries and then wind up closing shop. Just yesterday 10 Wachovia execs got 98.5 million. Thats crazy.

Being on a Board of Directors should be voluntary and compensation a token of appreciation. Not compensation that is CRAZY and above and beyond.

LSC should just close rather than ask for a LOAN from JC. Because they will close anyway. Mark my words.

These are bleak times. To see those salary figures... one has to wonder WTF is going on.

Time for a reality check.

FGJCNJ

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Even the MOMA has free Friday nights. What does LSC have? A free night or a discount might generate some interest. Why does everyone just look for the easy bailout?

Yes, there is a board. Here is a list of who's on it:

Hon. Thomas H. Kean
Founding Governor

Hon. Jon S. Corzine
Governor of New Jersey, Honorary Chair
(represented by Hon. Lucille E. Davy, New Jersey Commissioner of Education)

George E. Arwady
Publisher, The Star-Ledger

Lawrence E. Bathgate, II
Senior Partner, Bathgate, Wegener & Wolf

Dennis M. Bone
President, Verizon, New Jersey, Inc.

Scott P. Bruder, MD, PhD
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, BD

Rose Cali
Founder, Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center

Jennifer A. Chalsty
Director, Advisory Council, James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University

Susan A. Cole, PhD
President, Montclair State University

James J. Coleman, Jr.
Chairman, International Matex Tank Terminals (IMTT)

Anthony R. Coscia
Chairman, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

LaVerne H. Council, CHAIR
Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Johnson & Johnson

Jon Cummings
Director, McKinsey & Company

Robert J. Dougherty, Jr., CHAIR EMERITUS
President and Chief Operating Officer, PSEG Energy Holdings, LLC (Retired)

Elinor Johnstone Ferdon
Past Chair, Board of Governors, United Way of America

Lucinda C. Florio
Former First Lady, State of New Jersey

John P. Giere
Chief Marketing Officer, Alcatel-Lucent

Hon. Jerramiah T. Healy
Mayor, City of Jersey City

Carlos Hernandez, PhD
President, New Jersey City University

Robert J. Ingato
Executive Vice President, CIT Group, Inc.

F.E. (Emil) Jacobs
Vice-President, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company

Atul R. Kanagat
President, MusikMatters, LLC, and Vice President, Research and Development, American Symphony Orchestra League

Thomas P. Koestler, PhD
President, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Schering-Plough Corporation

Barbara G. Koster
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Prudential Financial

Ralph LaRossa
President and Chief Operating Officer, Public Service Electric & Gas Company

Bruce L. Levy, TREASURER
President and CEO, International Power America

Ann M. Limberg
President, Bank of America - New Jersey

Charles J. Maikish
President and CEO, Toxin Alerting Building Systems (TABS)

Mark L. Polansky
Astronaut, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Janet L. Robinson, VICE CHAIR
President and Chief Executive Officer, The New York Times Company

Clare R. Scherrer
Partner/Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Thomas J. Stanton, III
Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle

William A. Tansey, III, MD, VICE CHAIR
Cardiologist, Summit Medical Group

Josh S. Weston
Honorary Chairman, Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

John R. Whitman
President and Managing Partner, Sycamore Management Corporation


It's a rather impressive list, and I doubt writing to them would do much, after all, they are the ones that have to approve salaries for people like Koster (somewhere around $400,000+ a year).

Besides, many of them have contributed their own money into the building, for example, Jennifer Chalsty donated over $5,000,000 to the expansion. But who knows... If the fat cats were really concerned and cared maybe they could all take some voluntary pay cuts until LSC's back on it's feet.

This whole thing is just appalling but I am glad that Fulop is my councilmember who doesn't have that herd mentality and just vote how everyone else is voting. 7-1 vote?

I can't believe it.

Of course because this is a "loan" (how and whether it gets repaid is another matter), the money given to LSC won't be counted as an expenditure in the city budget so it won't affect their stated deficit. But it will add to the serious cash flow problems this city already has.

Why was LSC ever asking Jersey City for the money anyway? Shouldn't they be asking the state instead? Since when do cities of our size fund museums?

i was going to go here once last winter, but after paying 5 dollars to park and then it was going to be twenty bucks for each person, we turned around and left. I don't even like paying that at MOMA. So why in the world would i pay that here?? Maybe they should think that people are not going there cause the fees are a bit too much. Lower the cost to bring more people in and generate excitement.

Huhm, with the current economic climate and not withstanding many issues that 2.5m would help to resolve in JC, why would the city want to bale out the LSC?

Wheres the priority???

If they want money then the City should have a percentage.

Also, It'd be nice to have another theater than Newport. If they aren't making money then they need to shake things up. Otherwise they'll just need money again in 6 months.

Is there a board we can write to?

*SIGH*. That the city would approve this without attaching stringent conditions is both appalling and unsurprising. And I bet Koster and other museum officials have suddenly become contributors to certain re-election campaigns, too. It's the same old, same old in JC.

I'm happy Fulop voted against it, and when the time comes, I'll vote for Fulop.

Actually, LSC does offer free admission to JC school kids. I don't know the specifics, but it's my understanding that any child enrolled in an "Abbot" district school gets free membership.

I'm outraged.
The city should have demanded a heavily discounted admission price for a JC kids, if not for their whole families.
They plunk that down on the edge of a poor neighborhood and price it out of reach of the very people that they should be most interested in educating.
And where are the free special programs for school children to give them an alternative after school hours?
And where is a city council that looks after our best interests rather than their own?

+1 to the poster who knows that the Queens Science Center is far superior. The folks who designed the displays in LSC think that interactive learning means that you push a button, and the TV turns on.
Or not.

loan was approved.... votes 7-1 (Fulop voted 'no'):

From JJ online:


Liberty Science Center is in line for a $2.5 million bailout from Jersey City after the City Council voted 7-1 tonight to ask the state Urban Enterprise Zone Authority to approve a bridge loan.

The lone vote against the loan was Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop, who said the Science Center suffers from a structural deficit.

"This money is not going to solve their problem," Fulop said.

On Monday, Fulop said the city giving a loan to a nonprofit organization would set a bad precedent.

The money for the loan would come out of Urban Enterprise Zone sales tax revenue. Last year, the Science Center contributed $109,622 in 3.5 percent UEZ sales tax collected from gift shop sales.

The science museum, located in Liberty State Park, would start paying back the zero-interest loan in March, with the balance due by Dec. 31, 2010, according to the resolution.

The $2.5 million sum is about 10 percent of its annual operating budget, according to LSC President and CEO Emlyn Koster.

The state's decision cut funding for LSC's Abbott school district programs in half, from $6 million to $3 million this year, led to the "cash crunch," Koster said.

Koster has acknowledged that attendance has remained below expectations since LSC reopened last year following an extensive renovation.

Museum officials said today they have hired a consultant to help them determine which staff and programs to cut to save money.

Koster said LSC is launching a new marketing campaign to boost attendance and raise funds from private donors to enable it to pay back the loan.

7 Vp's is ridiculous, so is $350,000 I say let it burn, they can file for bankruptcy, reorganize, lose the fat cats and then and only then maybe talk about a JC loan that has tight restrictions and city input on executive compensation..huh, sounds familiar.
They don't want a JC address? How bout a disgusting attack at the light-rail station and now word of chromium pollution within a mile of the museum. I think the address is the least of their worries.

Well, did the bailout/loan get approved at tonight's council meeting? I would have liked to have been at the meeting but didn't make it.

If there are really people there making close to $350,000/year, how do I get a job there?

Oh and why on earth do they need 7 vice presidents? It's a freakin' museum, and really not that big of one when compared to a lot of other science museums!

I always thought LSC was part of the state park system. I guess not. Anyway, rich people donate money all the time to universities, hospitals etc. 2.5MIL is peanuts to a rich guy(or gal). Doesn't LSC have a department that solicits gifts and donations? Yes, for big money you gotta name something after the gift giver but who cares? As long as it's not Trump. Ha, fat chance he would give anybody 5 cents.

I am a current employee at LSC. I have been here since the mid-90?s. Something needs to really shake this building up. As I listen to all of these Wall Street giants collapsing, and now LSC looking for some kind of a bailout, I can?t help but compare. LSC has ?fat cats?, too. As recently as May, I saw paperwork that showed one of the Vice Presidents earning $30,000 in a single month! That?s $350,000 per year! There are 7 VP?s, two of which have been there longer. Now, just how much do you think Koster?s making?

They also have expense accounts, some of which are in excess of $15,000. They?re even being paid by different countries to help develop science centers there, and they can?t even manage their own museum.

You know why they are losing funding? I don?t know how they managed it, but they?ve pissed off a good chunk of their corporate sponsors!

Don?t forget, when LSC first opened, they wanted nothing to do with Jersey City. It wasn?t even their address, they had everything read:

251 Philips Street
Liberty State Park
New Jersey, 07305

They did not want to be associated with the ?stigmatism? of being in Jersey City.

When they closed for their expansion, construction had to be halted, because nobody thought about having to pay PSE&G on the property, a bill that was going to run them about $2,000,000.

The building has always been ?top heavy? and will continue to be if they are constantly given hand-outs. When they lay people off, it?s almost always people that are making less than $40,000 a year. Can Jersey City really afford to support this kind of an institution?

It's a shame that they'd rather give tax abatements to any Tom, Dick, and Harry Developer than help an educational and cultural institution out.

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I always wondered why they didn't make more use of that IMAX theater.

Dark Knight, Avatar, Star Trek, Transformers, Bladerunner, Beowulf, The Day the Earth Stood Still...they all have IMAX versions. You could hook up with local scifi clubs and do an amazing festival, draw teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, let's be honest, 50s+ and definitely people new to the museum. If someone in charge wants to offer me a job, I'll do it.

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+1

They can but choose not to. Emlyn Koster is an arrogant priss.

From Wiki:

Liberty Science Center's Expansion
Liberty Science Center before its 2006 re-construction

Liberty Science Center completed a twenty-two-month, $109 million expansion and renewal project on July 19, 2007.[2] The expansion added 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) to the facility, bringing it to nearly 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2).[3] However the amount of exhibit space slightly decreased with the expansion as all the new space added is open space such as queue lines for the ticketing office. It also has state-of-the-art surround sound, and also one of the world's best picture screen in the IMAX dome.

...It also has the world's largest IMAX dome screen...

Is there any connection with cityhall, especially its elected officials?

Shouldn't they be asking Georgie boy for a bailout in DC ?

Any connection with the Construction Co. and cityhall officials...sum how I smell some crap going on or its total mismanagement that needs replacing.

i'm going to have to agree with those putting the blame on those running it. I haven't been, but i do have a date w/ our nephews in the near future (if its still open!). Just seems those in charge run things into the ground and then come to the tax payers to bail them out.

Of course i'm lumping these guys in w/ the rest of what seems to be all of corporate america (i'm exagerating i know, but damn its one after the next). Any loans given to companies (for profit or non profit) should not only have a deadline to pay it back, but also a plan in the works on how they will improve the business. Just refilling the piggy bank is not going to cure what ails them, and they'll be in the same boat in a few years.

dont even know if this is possible, but cant they start showing actual imax movies in the dome (instead of just the documentaries they normalyl show) and start charging admission? that would probably bring in alot of extra cash

They should just get in line behind Wall Street and Detroit and let the Feds bail them out.

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I agree that the museum should go through a reorganization of some kind.

Unfortunately, this isn't a time when it's easy to finance a reorganization.

The attendance problem may be because they raised the membership fee and many of the other fees to pretty prohibitive levels for most people, and relative to other institutions.

family memberships:
LSC $200, $7 parking plus more for imax tickets

Wildlife Conservation Center: membership to the Bronx, Queens, Central & Prospect Park Zoos, plus Coney Island Aquarium:
$120 including many parking and exhibit discounts.
$150 with all exhibit fees waived and admission for 1 more adult.

I only assume the institutional fees are similarly high.

The bottom line they're not competitive in price, and the exhibits aren't compelling enough to visit frequently at that price. And even shortly after they reopened many exhibits already were broken.

I wonder how many of the large corporations squatting on the JC waterfront are supporting LSC the way they support NYC cultural institutions?

Why on earth did they just double the size of the place? They should fire those in charge!

I'm all for keeping a lot geared to kids but they should expand their mission statement and do more to get tourists of all ages also going there -- Maybe they need an I-Max film related to tourists coming to see Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Harbor and the Hudson River.

One thing is for sure, JC shouldn't give more money to the people who ran this into the ground by OVER expanding!

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I went to the Liberty Science Center for the first time on Sunday. It looks amazing, the exhibits are really all out when it comes to appearance. I was disappointed and surprised though when it came to content and usage. Many of the interactive exhibits didn't bring together the hands on activities and the concept in a cohesive way. Many of the machines that people use in the activities just plain didn't work, and there were no notices on the ones that were broken. You would start the activity and half-way through not be able to finish it because the machine didn't work properly. I am a college educated person and I had difficulty understanding many of the activities and the point of then. My sister, a science teacher was also disappointed and mentioned that the queens science center is a much better museum.
Wonderful views of manhattan though and the building is incredible.
I would agree with Fulop and say no bailout. There are things they can do to raise revenue to survive, starting with raising the teacher admission from $5 closer to the general admission of $15-something.