By Michael Howell
The Board of Directors of the Bitter Root Valley Historical Society, which operates the Ravalli County Museum, asked the County Commissioners last week to consider placing a one mill levy on the June ballot to support operations of the museum. One mill is estimated to raise about $80,000.
Back in 1974, a mill levy was passed to pay for the maintenance of the old courthouse building, now occupied by the Ravalli County Museum. That levy brings in about $24,000 annually for maintenance of the building. Up until 2010 the county also put about $1,000 a month into operation of the museum. After that stopped, in 2012 the Historical Society entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the County stating that the County would pay for all building maintenance costs and the Historical Society would pay the operational costs of the museum.
According to Paula Frickey, the Historical Society’s accountant, the museum is currently operating on a budget of $195,000, but has only managed over the last few years to bring in about $155,000 through fundraising events, donations, membership fees and admission charges. The $40,000 shortfall has been covered by dipping into the capital reserve funds, she said, but that can’t continue.
BRVHS board member Brett Calder said that the tanking economy in 2008 made fundraising more difficult. The museum’s old stand-by fundraiser, an art show, fizzled out. On top of that the interest on standing funds dropped to almost nothing. He said the board’s efforts to keep the funds coming in was becoming frantic and all consuming.
“It’s becoming insane and we just can’t continue at this pace,” said Calder. He said without some sort of relief the only answer would be to begin scaling back operations “and run the risk of becoming a storage place for artifacts rather than a vibrant thriving museum.”
Frickey told the commissioners that over the past calendar year the museum served 12,745 visitors. And that was not counting the 9,000 who attend the annual Apple Days celebration or the 4,000 who attend Bitter Root Days. She said 8,371 children attended museum sponsored workshops and 2,753 students toured the museum. The museum also hosted 755 free lectures.
She said this kind of educational activity and community involvement was important to the public and to the preservation of the valley’s history.
Calder said that there were two ways for the museum to put a mill levy on the ballot. One was to go out and collect enough signatures to put it on the ballot. But, he said, that also costs money and is very time consuming. He said the commissioners could help them avoid all that time and expense by placing the issue on the ballot themselves.
“It would allow us to put our time and energy directly into educating the community about the need for the levy instead of going out and chasing signatures,
” said Calder.
Commissioner Jeff Burrows asked why they were asking the public for $80,000 when they are only experiencing a $40,000 shortfall.
Calder said that they were not asking that operations be fully funded by this levy but to provide a baseline stability to the operations. He said the board was not going to quit its fundraising activities. He said there was a lot of opportunity to expand the children’s programs, and the general educational programs and lectures that help the community stay in touch with its history. In short, he said, there is a lot that is not being done.
Burrows said he was not in opposition to a mill levy, he was just asking the hard questions and the answers just make a stronger case when it goes to the public. He said it appeared to him that the mill levy for building maintenance did not fully cover the costs of maintenance and that some money must be coming from the county’s general fund. He wondered if the museum would consider using some of the requested mill levy to meet those expenses.
“It might make it an easier sell,” said Burrows.
Wayne Hedman told the commissioners they should visit the museum.
“There’s nothing quite as exciting as when you walk in and see little kids from the school and the excitement on their faces as they go into the Indian Room,” said Hedman.
Dan Rathbun said that the museum has always been called the Ravalli County Museum and a lot of people don’t think to donate to it because they think it’s a county museum supported by taxes.
“It should, at least in part, be funded as a county museum,” he said.
Commission Chair Ray Hawk said he would like a chance to look over the MOU with the Historical Society before making a decision. He also mentioned the question about the maintenance costs and whether some money is coming out of the county’s aggregate levy already for that. Then he said he had another concern.
“I’m not sure giving you a $40,000 cushion is a good idea,” said Hawk. “You might think of asking for less.”
A meeting was scheduled for February 8 at 9:30 a.m. for making a decision about placing the issue on the ballot.