Syracuse Board Votes To Liquidate

The 4/5/2011 edition of the Syracuse Post-Standard published an article by Melinda Johnson which reports the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (SSO) board elected to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy by a vote of 15 for and two against…

At the same time, this doesn’t mean it will necessarily happen the way you might suspect. The request has to be presented in court and a judge will ultimately rule on the petition. As an example of the potential disconnect between decisions and outcomes, the SSO also announced that they would not be issuing any refunds to ticket holders for the remaining season’s cancelled concerts. But shortly after that announcement, the 4/6/2011 edition of WAMC news posted a copy of an on-air segment by Dave Lucas that quotes New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, as saying “consumers generally should get refunds for services not provided” but his office will have to examine the SSO’s books in order to know for certain and in the meantime, ticket holders should file complaints with his office.

Given the fact that the SSO Interim Executive Director, Paul Brooks, has gone on record stating that one of the driving forces behind the decision to liquidate was due to unfunded pension liabilities, it should come as no surprise to anyone that this situation is far from cut and dry. Likewise, we can expect to see events unfold over the next several weeks that paint a clearer picture of what has been going on behind the SSO’s closed doors.