Quinte West City Council is deferring a decision on providing the Quinte Museum of Natural History funding from the Natural History Reserve Fund and exploring an annual contribution to the museum beginning in 2027.
At a special council meeting on Wednesday, council heard from the Executive Director of the museum, Deanna Way, who provided an update on the the museum over the last year.
She says there is $100,000 left in the Natural History Reserve Fund and that the request would be to withdraw $50,000 in the first quarter of 2025 and the remaining $50,000 in the first quarter of 2026.
Council was also asked to consider an annual committment beginning in 2027.
Way says the request is being made to sustain the momentum of the museum and to enable their focus on key priorities such as programming, exhibits and community engagement.
“This is a place where our community and visitors alike can connect deeply with nature, sparking senses of wonder and responsibility to protect it,” Way told council during delegations.
“We’ve laid the foundation for something extraordinary, a museum that brings our community together as a hub for learning, curiosity and action, but to truly reach its full potential, the museum needs all of us to support it. With your commitment, the museum can grow as an authority of environmental stewardship, a third space for learning and gathering and a source of pride for Quinte West, together, we can transform this vision into an enduring legacy for our region, a natural attraction that reflects our shared values and commitments to a vibrant, sustainable future.”
Following the presentation, councillor David O’Neill was critical of the ask, saying that he needed to see the financial projections to determine the viability of the operation.
“We’ve given the museum $330,000 to date, and you’re not even telling us if you’ll be viable next year. You’re just asking for the money, which I don’t agree with, and the reserve fund is not the museum’s, it’s taxpayers money,” O’Neill said following the presentation.
“You emailed me last year and I asked for projections and you never got back to me, like, we’re going to have a real tough year for the budget and we can’t be giving money out when you’re not even giving us the information we asked for.”
Way responded saying she had been a sole staff member at the museum for six to seven months of the past year and that work is being done to put together those projections.
“It is unfeasible for our admissions revenue to actually support the entire expenditure that we have per year, (though) it does eat out of a good chunk,” Way explained.
“So our projections are to do a third, a third, a third, so being able to support at least a third of our own (revenue) generation, a third of that coming through donations, and a third of that coming through grants and funding opportunities.”
Councillor Egerton Boyce spoke in favour of providing the funding, saying he didn’t want to be living in a community that didn’t supports arts & culture.
“I sat for many years when I was a councillor in Belleville on the Glanmore National Historic Site and we didn’t break even, but it wasn’t expected. It’s like so many other things, I mean, our roads don’t break even, and we’re not expected to put toll roads on them and things like this. So it’s so important that we don’t neglect the arts and culture in this community.” Boyce told council.
After an initial motion was put on the floor to approve the request, a motion to defer for the next formal budget meetings was brought forward and passed by council.
