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| NewsFriday, August 24, 2007 10:27 PM CDT |
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Children's Discovery Museum man not get state funds
NORMAL — It looked last week like the way was finally clear for the Children’s Discovery Museum to get about $60,000 a year from the state through the Illinois Horse Racing Act. On Aug. 17, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill sponsored by state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, making the museum eligible for Normal’s share of the $3 million the state collects each year for communities that have facilities for betting on horse races. But the museum still may not get the money. It was among the $463 million Blagojevich slashed from the state budget on Thursday. “It’s a disappointment since he just signed the bill last Friday,” said Garry Little, Normal’s parks and recreation director. Museum manager Shari Buckellew included the money in the budget she turned in to the town of Normal this week. “It was going to help support our operations — educational programming,” she said. The City Council recently rejected a plan to increase admission fees, so Buckellew said the museum has to come up with additional funding sources. “It (the racing money) was something that was available through the state,” she said. In 2000, legislators amended the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975 to divert a portion of the money collected by the state racing board to park districts in communities with betting facilities. There was an off-track betting parlor in Bloomington at the time. Bloomington did not have a park district, so the law was amended to allow the money to go to Miller Park Zoo. The OTB later moved to Normal, which also does not have a park district. As a result, the money stayed in the state coffers until the latest legislation made the museum eligible. Buckellew said Normal’s museum isn’t the only one that will be hurt by the governor’s decision. “A lot of private museums will be severely hurt by this,” she said. “Others get hundreds of thousands of dollars (through the horse racing act).” Some of those museums, including the Children’s Discovery Museum, are getting a double hit from Blagojevich’s decision. Buckellew said cuts to the Illinois Arts Council will affect grants the museum has received for summer programs. Little said the Normal Theater also stands to lose $12,000 from the Illinois Arts Council cut. Buckellew said while Blagojevich maintains he cut “special pet projects,” the Arts Council and the Horse Racing Act have been around for years. “Museums depend on this money to operate,” she said. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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