Museum looks for city funding

From New Orleans and Los Angeles to Leesburg, Va., and Mabank, Texas, the signatures from the past week in the guest book at the Presidential Museum and Leadership Library come from all over the United States.

In June, the last month in which statistics were available, the museum’s 324 visitors came from 19 states and four foreign countries, its administrator Lettie England said.

In the first six months of 2009, England said the struggling museum had an economic impact on the community of $215,000.

England said she arrived at the number by using a formula used by convention and visitor’s bureaus that assumes each visitor spends $100. The number of visitors is therefore multiplied by $100, and that number is multiplied by 2.5 and the result is multiplied by 2.5 again.

"They stay in our hotels. They eat in our restaurants. They spend money in our gift shop," she said.

And now the museum is looking for the city to return some of that money.

The Presidential Museum recently requested $75,000 for operations from the city of Odessa’s hotel-motel tax fund. City Manager Richard Morton said that’s nearly half of the museum’s $165,000 operating budget.

Hotel-motel funds normally fund advertising for events, like the Commemorative Air Force Airsho and Fiesta West Texas, not for operations for permanent attractions, Morton said.

In fact, the proposal had to get a legal opinion just to figure out if museum operations are a valid expenditure for hotel-motel funding. Though a final opinion hasn’t been issued, City Attorney Larry Long said it "looks like they probably can" receive funding.

England said that without a funding source, the museum could be doomed.

"Not long," she said of much time the Presidential Museum has. "We haven’t set a deadline, but trust me."

The museum had been in danger of closing around July 1, but England said it was able to stay open for the time being with help from $11,000 in donations.

"We opted to stay open and fight the fight as long as we can," she said.

But the museum has $25,000 in current debt along with a loan to pay, England said.

Attempts to get financing from other entities have met with little success.

"I cannot express enough the urgency if we are going to continue," England said.

The museum was rejected in a request for $25,000 in funding from Ector County. While Odessa College agreed to rent part of the museum for classes and meetings, it also declined to provided funding. England said the museum hasn’t heard back from Ector County Independent School District, and, while the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, on the campus of which the museum is located, has agreed to help with air conditioning costs, more money would have to come from the university system in Austin.

She said the museum would start its membership drive next month, if it’s able to.

"We’re looking at all avenues," England said.

After allocations last month, the city currently has about $3.5 million remaining in its hotel-motel tax fund. Assistant City Manager James Zentner said.

In order for the Presidential Museum to get a piece of that money, Morton said a city councilman would have to put it on an agenda for an upcoming meeting. Then council would vote on how much, if any, money the museum should receive.

Councilman Royce Bodiford said, if the museum’s proposal gets legal approval, he would have to look and see if he could endorse city funding for it.

"I think the Presidential Museum is certainly an asset to Odessa," he said. "It’s unique. It’s unfortunate we don’t have more of the public interested in funding it."

Morton said one factor in determining how much money the museum gets is whether or not it is classified as part of the arts, since state law allows for a maximum of one-seventh of hotel-motel tax funding each year to go toward art.

Bodiford said he would consider looking at other museums or attractions for hotel-motel funding in the future if they seek it.

"I think we’d look at anybody who felt like they could qualify," he said. "If they pass all the tests, and, provided we have the money, I would be happy to look at any of them."

But Bodiford said he would like a set of guidelines to be set on when allocations of hotel-motel tax funding can be made.

"I kind of feel like we shouldn’t be taking these requests just one right after the other," he said.

While the Presidential Museum’s requesting funding could lead to more attractions seeking hotel-motel tax money, England said her facility stands out. It includes original portraits, "rare" presidential signatures and a library obtained largely from John Ben Shepperd, a former Texas secretary of state and attorney general.

"The position that I and the board come from is we have been here 45 years," she said. "The collection has been built over 45 years. We have a responsibility to have that and do our best to carry it forward."