Rene De La Cruz, Staff Writer
Victorville Daily Press
APPLE VALLEY • The future of a key educational facility in the High Desert hangs by a financial thread.
After 20 years of operation, the struggling Victor Valley Museum will continue to stay open with a portion of $200,000 in bridge funding from San Bernardino County.
Because of the county’s budget reduction for 2013-14, nine positions have been eliminated in the county’s museum budget, with additional bridge funding retaining the one paid employee at the museum in Apple Valley.
The county’s museum budget of $3.1 million reflects a reduction of nearly $770,000.
In May, Director of San Bernardino County Museums Robert McKernan said the local museum had to temporarily layoff one paid staff worker because of a lack of funds.
McKernan said the county was not planning on closing “any facility in our system of museums.”
On Friday, Facility Manager of the Victor Valley Museum Rhonda Almager said she was ecstatic to be back after being temporarily laid off for almost two weeks.
“It was touch and go, but I love this place,” said Almager, who has worked for the museum system for 24 years. “It’s me and about 14 volunteers. I’m grateful to still be here.”
Since May, news of the lack of museum funds spread, with the rumor mill lamenting the impending closure of the facility.
The county’s $4.4 billion budget for 2013-14, passed June 12, reveals limited one-time sources to fund certain costs as part of a multi-year plan to address a five-year structural deficit.
A few of those one-time fund issues include covering shortfall in the county museum system, Fire Department and underfunded programs and projects in Land Use Services and Public Works.
The budget also revealed that the county will work with other government agencies to explore opportunities to “transfer the ownership/operation of the Victor Valley Museum to another entity.”
One of those entities may be the newly formed Friends of the Victor Valley Museum, which held its inaugural fundraiser and reception in November to raise funds and promote community awareness and involvement in the museum.
During the event, Brad Mitzelfelt, the county’s 1st District supervisor at the time, pledged $125,000 of remaining discretionary funds as matching funds for the nonprofit group.
The museum opened as an independent nonprofit in 1992. It closed for a one-year renovation project after the county acquired it in February 2010 after declining revenue threatened its closure.
