The city had given $75,000 annually to the foundation from 2009 to 2015, but starting this year the city put the contribution toward building the Heritage Foundation’s museum at the Imperial Market mixed-use development instead.
Sugar Land is designing a visitor's center to open next to the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation's future museum.[/caption]With charitable donations dropping this year, the foundation is requesting reducing the contributions by $15,000 each year from 2016 to 2020, in addition the museum’s construction contribution.
“There has been a need expressed by the Heritage Foundation to ease,” City Manager Allen Bogard said. “[To] go through a reduction [and] consider some staging of ending of the city’s financial support.”
Looking at Foundation Executive Director Dennis Parmer’s business plan on Tuesday, Mayor Joe Zimmerman said he could not see how the foundation would make up the revenue shortfall. The council told Parmer to bring back a revised and more detailed financial plan in time for the city’s budget workshop on Sept. 1.
“It’s a question of revenues and expenses,” Zimmerman said. “And right now the expenses are outmatching the revenues.”
Parmer said that despite the organization’s usual fundraisers and partnerships to raise revenue, donors were giving smaller amounts this year than in the past.
“We saw our same commitment but half the amounts on the checks,” he said.
At the museum
The city's visitor's center and foundation's museum will share the second floor of the container warehouse at Imperial Market[/caption]The museum and visitors center will share the second floor of the container warehouse at Imperial Market, with 8,000 square feet of space dedicated to the museum, according to meeting documents.
The museum will feature exhibits detailing Sugar Land’s history, display foundation artifacts and offer education programs in a seated theater, according to design plans. The adjoining visitor’s center will house Visit Sugar Land Convention and Visitors Services as well as provide exhibits, a retail shop for city-branded items and local mercantile goods, and a box office for local event tickets.
Bogard said the city and foundation had discussed admission fees being a possible deterrent to visitors. However, he said the city had not dismissed the idea of visitors being encouraged to give a donation upon entry or charging admission to special events.
Council member Amy Mitchell said the city should financially support the museum if necessary to get it off the ground, and that the museum should be able to charge admission.
“I don’t understanding why we are curtailing their ability to raise funds,” Mitchell said.
