At the Cromwell Community Board meeting late last month, Central Otago District Mayor Tim Cadogan asked Cromwell Museum Trust chairman Martin Anderson how moving into the proposed new museum could be justified to cater for just over 5000 visitors a year.
Mr Anderson presented the Cromwell Museum Trust accountability report to the board - a requirement as it received an annual grant from the community board. The annual grant to the trust increased to $40,000 through the 2021-31 long-term plan.
As a condition of the funding, the trust was required to provide an annual report to the council on objectives and outcomes for the year.
Mr Anderson said the trust had again received $20,000 from Lotteries NZ but that money might not always be available.
"Given that our grant from the council is $40,000 a year and our total expenditure is just north of $80,000, if that Lotteries grant doesn’t eventuate in subsequent years then we have an issue and will have to bridge that gap.
"I said to you last time when that happens, and it truly will happen one day, we will come knocking on your door. So you are forewarned."
The museum’s sole paid staff member, director Jennifer Hay, said numbers were noted as people came in.
Mr Cadogan said he was going to be blunt and ask how they could continue meeting running costs in the proposed new building.
"There’s a really screechingly difficult financial situation and there’s a lot to moving into a bigger brighter museum," Mr Cadogan said.
"As a business how do you justify a $6 million to $8 million museum, or whatever it’s going to be, when you’ve got 14 people a day and your financial situation for your operating costs is really extreme. How do you balance that?"
Mr Anderson said the location of the new building, near the cycle trail, would attract more visitors.
There was a project under way by a couple of trustees to approach tour bus companies and get the museum to be a regular stop-off point for them.
"The other thing is in the new location. Because it’s so close to the cycle trail, we expect visitor numbers to soar. We can’t tell you how much."
Mr Cadogan asked how much more the museum’s overheads would be in a larger, more brightly lit building.
Mr Anderson said the museum trustees had not been part of conversations around the cost of running the new building but would like to be.
Mr Cadogan said he admired the museum trust’s ambition and what it was doing.
Board chairwoman Anna Harrison said Mr Anderson had brought a conundrum to the board and they had to consider what the next couple of years would look like.
"Obviously, there’s still quite a lot to go before we get the building over the line to be built and the new spaces open," she said.
In February, the Cromwell Community Board endorsed preliminary designs for the new $38 million multipurpose complex to replace the original 60-year-old building in Melmore Tce.
The proposed design includes a 400-seat auditorium, cafe, cinema, flexible community and meeting spaces, as well as housing the Cromwell Museum.
