Clack Museum may be facing cuts

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board heard Monday that it may be out of cash, and unless it finds some other revenue, it may need to cut its expenses by more than a quarter in the next budget year.

Board member Val Hickman, who is on the budget committee, said the annual budget has been relying on cash that had built up over the years, and that reserve is used up.

The board agreed to meet with the H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation Board next Monday at 6:30 p.m., before its monthly meeting, to discuss what funding the foundation might be able to provide and what actions the museum board should take.

“We have options,” Hickman said.

Foundation Board President Elaine Morse said she couldn’t say Monday how much help the foundation could provide, but that she wants to hear what it can do to help.

“We’re already helping the museum a lot,” Morse said. “If we hear what the bare bones is … then we would for sure have that much money, and special needs would be discretionary … but I would really hate to see us not have the museum staffed.”

Hickman said after the meeting that the board’s $27,000 budget uses about $19,000 in local revenue and other sources, and about $8,000 has been from cash in the account.

The county has not yet received its second payment from property taxes, which will add to the museum’s budget for the rest of this fiscal year, to the end of June.

The county commission reviews budget requests each year to set the tax mills for each budget, telling the entity, such as the museum board, that it will need to cut its request if necessary.

The county has been dealing with lost revenue — it reports that county revenue from natural gas has dropped from more than $1 million just a few years ago to less than $100,000 last year — and rising expenses, and has asked non-mandated services such as the county parks and the fair to find ways to become self-sufficient.

The foundation helps pay for expenses of the board to operate the museum and the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump. It recently purchased the Griggs Printing Building in downtown Havre to renovate and convert into a future site of the museum.