outlook to negative based on the budget shortfall and 'considerably weaker financial performance.' A Met spokesman on Friday said the opera would have a balanced budget for the current fiscal year, which ends July 31. As a result of agreements brokered with its unions last August, the company cut $11.5 million in expenses and 22 administrative jobs. While Mr. Gelb’s base salary in 2013 was the same as the previous year—about $1.5 million—the value of his overall compensation package increased by 15%, according to the filing. The Met attributed the boost to a deferred retirement plan established by an anonymous donor, which it said 'is only payable upon the fulfillment of his current contract.' The arrangement was initiated in 2012 and is similar to that devised for the previous general manager, Joseph Volpe, according to the filing. Mr. Gelb’s total retirement and deferred compensation in 2013 was $433,958, up from $145,039 the previous year. In April 2014, Mr. Gelb took a 10% pay cut that lowered his salary to $1.4 million, where it remains, according to the Met. Last June, as the company proposed union pay cuts of 16% to 17%, the Met said Mr. Gelb was prepared to take another decrease to match the percentage taken by the Met’s union employees. They ultimately agreed to cuts that amounted to about 7% for most of them. Union members were also among the Met’s highest-paid workers in 2013, according to the tax filing. Three members of the stagehands union, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local One, each made more than $460,000 in 2013. Two were department heads, and the other is an assistant department head. Meanwhile, chorus master Donald Palumbo earned $535,283 that year, while concertmaster David Chan earned $413,405." [Source]
