Children's museum cutting staff, pay, hours

The DuPage Children's Museum is cutting staff, paychecks and hours in an effort to address its budget crunch.

The Naperville-based museum is reducing its budget by 15 percent - about $600,000 - on top of the $200,000 it cut just three months ago.

"We're all looking at something you have to do in this recession or economy to keep on keeping on," Executive Director Sue Broad said. "It's not pleasant and it's very difficult but we're doing our best to keep visitors' experience the best we can make it. We're making the cuts everybody is making right now."

Broad will take an 18 percent pay cut while other staff members making more than minimum wage will see 10 percent reductions in pay.

The museum also will cut its hours of operation. It will now close at 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays as it already does on Mondays.

The nonprofit museum was founded in 1987 and moved to its current site at 301 N. Washington St. in 2001 where it receives about 330,000 visitors a year.

Roughly 60 percent of the museum's $4 million annual operating budget comes from membership and admission fees while the remaining 40 percent is from donations, grants and sponsorships.

The recent budget cuts will help fill a hole in the operating budget but won't help the museum pay down its long-term debt, according to Broad.

It has about $9.4 million in bonds left from renovating the Naperville facility.

"We can't budget cut our way out of that one," Broad said.

If the museum doesn't find a way to pay off the bonds it will have to consider selling the land and moving elsewhere as a last resort, Broad said. She said a March 2008 appraisal valued the site around $10 million.

Because the museum is on private land, she said it is not eligible for state and federal grants.

But leaders are asking for assistance from local governments, including the city of Naperville and the park district. It has requested $250,000 in operating support through the city's Special Events and Cultural Amenities grants, which it has received for the past two years. It is also requesting $500,000 in capital support through the grant program.

The city's Advisory Cultural Commission meets at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at the municipal center, 400 S. Eagle St., to look over grant applications. Broad is encouraging supporters to attend the meeting and expects a chance for public comment around noon.

The museum also has started a campaign to rally supporters. So far more than 2,400 people have signed up as museum "champions." For more information, call (630) 637-8000 or visit dupagechildrensmuseum.org.