Saying the Moorpark High Street Art Center has "failed to achieve every established financial goal," Moorpark Mayor Patrick Hunter has produced a business plan that he hopes will help make the center more profitable.

The mayor's plan, distributed to Moorpark's Redevelopment Agency earlier this week, summarized the financial state of the center since the agency decided to subsidize it almost two years ago. Late Friday, the city staff also released its report to the Redevelopment Agency regarding the center.

The mayor's plan was submitted before a scheduled meeting Wednesday, when the Redevelopment Agency will review the center's operations and related fiscal matters.

In 2005, the Redevelopment Agency purchased the center for $1.25 million. The next year, the agency voted 4-1, with Hunter dissenting, to approve a financial plan that included subsidizing the center $100,000 per year for the first three years.

In his plan, Hunter said the staff report given at the time grossly underestimated the level of financial subsidy required for the center. He said the subsidy has increased by at least 40 percent. He noted that money could go to other economic development projects, including food, clothing and shelter for disadvantaged families.

Hunter noted attendance at the center is very low, and lack of concession revenue continues to plague the center's operation.

"After 18 months, it is now clear the center has failed to achieve every established financial goal. It is spending more money than was anticipated, it is taking in less money than was anticipated and, while not an established goal, an average of 81 guests per performance fails to meet even the most mediocre standard," he says in the report.

Hunter said his plan is designed to provide greater access to the center to a wider variety of community groups, organizations and interests, and reduce operating costs.

In its report, the city staff also recommended cutting costs and enhancing revenues at the center, as well as forming a Moorpark Community Foundation for the Arts. The staff report has recommended reducing the agency's annual subsidy by $30,000 to $40,000.

Hunter said the center has staked its early reputation on "expensive, semiprofessional productions," which have proven to be ineffective. He would like to see many forms of entertainment, such as children's theater and workshops, local dance troupes, karate demonstrations, concerts, films and film festivals, melodramas, musicals and plays.

He said he would also like to see theater and music for the Latino community, and a monthly "radio broadcast."

Moorpark City Councilwoman Roseann Mikos has read the mayor's plan but said she is waiting to read the staff report for an unbiased analysis of the center's financial state before making a decision on the center's future.

Mikos said a number of ideas in the mayor's plan already exist at the center. She also said the mayor's plan didn't factor in theater industry costs, such as equity actors' fees and upfront concert fees.

She noted having concerts would require additional upfront fees to the performers, and having films at the theater would require money for equipment to run the film.

"He is showing that he likes what the theater is doing and wants it to continue. But he doesn't understand that many of his ideas take money and time to work," Mikos said.

Council members who voted in favor of subsidizing the center said the support has not come at the expense of poor people of Moorpark, citing other projects the city is funding at a greater expense.