EXCLUSIVE: Promises aside, museum pleading for tax money

Jun. 20, 2013

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Steve Terheiden, the Museum Center's senior director of facility operations, shows water damage along a wall on the third floor of the building on the backside of the rotunda in 2011. / Enquirer file photo

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Cincinnati Museum Center officials want to ask Hamilton County residents to renew its operating levy next spring – despite a promise in 2009 that they would never ask for another operating levy.

But circumstances have changed,museum officials told The Enquirer Wednesday. The Museum Center’s home – Union Terminal – is crumbling and in need of major repairs estimated to cost $163 million.

In 2009, museum officials were hoping those repairs would have been made by now – via a separate capital levy, said Museum Center spokeswoman Elizabeth Pierce.

Hamilton County commissioners told the museum they would not support a capital levy.

So the Museum Center continues to need help with utilities and maintenance – both of which are more expensive in an outdated building.

Heating and air conditioning systems date to the 1980s and need constant repairs.

There are also leaky walls and parapets, which require continual clean-up – all of which adds to the museum’s operating costs.

“The building is inefficient,” Pierce said.

Museum President and CEO Douglass W. McDonald notified commissioners about the levy in a June 5 letter obtained by The Enquirer under a public records request.

“We must notify you at this time for the possibility of pursuing a May 6, 2014 operating levy renewal,” the letter said.

No dollar amount was mentioned; nor were particular needs.

The letter did note the ongoing capital needs.

INCREASING DAMAGE TO BUILDING CITED

Under Ohio law, the county commissioners must approve the request before it can be put to voters.

The Museum Levy is one of 11 county levies.

All told, the levies cost the owner of a $100,000 property $384.91 a year in taxes.

“Union Terminal’s needs are unchanged except for the increasing damage to the building,” McDonald told The Enquirer in a statement.

As time passes, the cost of repairs and financing them will continue to escalate, he said.

That committee agreed the museum center may need to seek another levy.

In it, TLRC member Heather Harlow wrote there would be operating needs past this levy cycle.

“Commissioners may want to consider amending the current two cycle levy limit given the significant operating costs associated with the current disrepair of the building,” she wrote.

Harlow noted consultants hired to look at Museum Center finances said the long-term financial future of the Museum Center is a “balance between earned income, private support and government support.”

THE TREND HAS BEEN AGAINST HIGHER TAXES

For 2˝ years, Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Chris Monzel has been trying to rein in property tax levies, hoping to make the county more attractive to property owners.

Monzel, a Republican, said it’s too soon to say how the commission would react to the operating levy request.

“At the end of the day, my goal is to reduce the tax burden on property owners in Hamilton County,” he said.

“I will do what I need to do to accomplish that.”

Museum officials first asked voters for a levy in 2004 after going into the red two years in a row; that was attributed to declining attendance after the 2001 riots, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent recession.

The levy passed with 64 percent of the vote.

When it came up for renewal in 2009, commissioners approved it, but reduced the amount it would collect from $18.9 million over five years to $15.8 million over five years.

That decision slashed in half what the levy cost the owner of $100,000 home to about $4.44 a year. It passed with 67 percent of the vote.

As part of that levy renewal, museum officials signed a contract with the county. Section 13 of the that contract says the Museum Center will not “seek additional operating levy support beyond this current voted levy.”

The five-year cycle ends in December 2014. This year the levy costs the owner of a $100,000 home $5.12. It brings in $3 million a year for the operation of the building.

In 2012, the levy made up about 18 percent of the Museum Center’s annual operating revenue, which was $18 million. In addition to repairs, the levy also pays for insurance and utilities.

Next year the museum’s operating levy is one of four levies that end. The others: Department of Disability Services, the Family Services and Treatment Levy, and the Health and Hospitalization Levy.

The museum’s decision to put the issue on the May ballot would avoid a glut of levies in November.

The letter comes on the heels of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County setting in motion a renewal levy. That levy also ends in December 2014, but the library’s board members indicated they could put a levy to voters as soon as this November.

Commissioners have no say on library levies.

Both the library and the Museum Center have been honored with the National Medal of Museum and Library Service Medal; the library this year, the Museum Center in 2009.

It’s certain voters will see a zoo levy renewal this November, likely one that costs the same amount – about $10.60 a year per $100,000 value of their home – but brings in fewer dollars because of depressed property values. ■

ABOUT THE MUSEUM CENTER

Its home: Union Terminal, an 80-year-old iconic, art deco building in Queensgate.

Who owns Union Terminal: The city of Cincinnati, but Hamilton County owns any improvements made to the property with taxpayer dollars. The Museum Center leases the building for $1 a year and is responsible for its upkeep.

The Museum Center is comprised of: The Duke Energy Children’s Museum, the Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History and Science, and the Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater. It hosts exhibits, houses the Cincinnati Historical Society Library and provides educational programs.

About its funding

Earned income from admissions, membership, parking, catering and the gift shop:

• 2008: More than $12 million

• 2009: More than $12 million

• 2010: $8.8 million

• 2011: $9.6 million

I’m your Hamilton County watchdog. I tell you what your elected officials are doing and keep track of how they spend your tax dollars. Email me at scoolidge@enquirer.com