Laguna Art Museum’s 11th annual benefit art...

Laguna Art Museum’s 11th annual benefit art auction on Saturday netted the same as last year--about $75,000--but only because underwriting covered some of the event’s expenses, a museum official said Monday.

The auction itself raised between $15,000 and $20,000 less than last year, but community underwriting for invitations and a buffet dinner--which the museum paid for last year--made up for that amount, said museum associate director Bonnie Britain Hall. All but about a dozen of about 215 works, which were donated by artists, were sold, but bids were generally lower, said Hall, who blamed the lagging economy. “Many of the same people in attendance had been major purchasers in the past, but they were not buying as much,” she said. Story, E2.