Will the Elgin Public Museum be history?

The Elgin Public Museum has been a staple in the city for more than a century, but like other area nonprofits, it's struggling because of the economic downturn.

And museum officials say if things don't get better, they may have to close its doors.

The city, which owns the building and the museum's collections from before 1983, used to pay the museum upward of $100,000 every year, but that number has dropped in recent years.

The museum and other nonprofits once received funding out of the city's general fund budget, but they're now funded by revenue collected from gambling taxes and the property lease for the Grand Victoria Casino. Revenues from the casino have declined 38 percent since 2008, and city budget analysts are planning for an equally grim future.

In the city's 2011 proposed budget released this month, the museum is projected to receive $53,620 next year, and $37,000 annually in the four years following.

“When the city started funding us from the riverboat, then our fortunes began to rise and fall with that. Only our fortunes don't rise, they fall,” said Peggy Stromberg, the museum's executive director.

The museum has used its reserve funds over the last five years to cover general day-to-day operational costs. That money had been set aside for new exhibits and a building expansion that would have added a north wing, but that's now a “moot point,” said Marty Yochum, the museum board president.

Yochum and Stromberg declined to say how much of the reserve fund has been depleted, but it's clear the museum faces an uncertain future because of limited funds.

Museum staff has been cut, and the three remaining positions executive director, and museum and educational coordinators are paid on a part-time basis, though they often work full-time hours, Yochum said.

So the museum relies on a “small, but loyal support system” of a half dozen volunteers who serve as educators and help set up exhibits, Yochum said.

The building is closed during weekdays in the winter, but is open all week in the summer when there is more foot traffic in Lords Park, where the museum sits, Yochum said.

Regular field trips by Elgin Area School District U-46 schools a major revenue source for the museum were cut in 2008 when the district stopped covering transportation costs. In response, the museum began educational outreach programs in some schools, but even those are difficult to do because of limited staff, Yochum said.

The board decided to eliminate an admission fee three years ago as the public began to cut back on spending. That actually has led to an increase in attendance, and money in the donation box, Yochum said.

But $1 or $2 donations and membership fees won't do it alone.

“Now it's at a really critical point just trying to keep the doors open,” said Diane Ramsey, the board's vice president.

The museum has begun to host more adult-focused programming like lectures, which carry an admission fee. And Stromberg is hard at work trying to secure grant funding, Yochum said, though grants for operational costs are hard to come by.

The museum faces further reductions in staffing and programming based on current funding levels from the city and other revenue sources, she said.

An evaluation of the museum's future likely would be discussed at next summer's annual meeting, which is open to the public, she said.

At a recent city budget discussion, city council members discussed the difficult choices that may lie ahead for the city due to continued declining revenues from the riverboat fund. Some suggested a larger discussion about how groups are funded needs to be had.

Stromberg was at that meeting.

“The majority of council members see the value of the museum,” Stromberg said. “Whether or not they're able to fund it is another story.”