Neville to propose admission charge The money would save a position, pay for sign By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle An admission charge for those over age 6 is in a proposed budget the Neville Public Museum's board will submit to the Brown County Education and Recreation Committee on Thursday. The admission charge would be a first for the museum. Proposed charges are $4 for adults, $2 for ages 6-15. The package would have to pass both the committee and the Brown County Board. The admissions fee also would include charges for in-county school groups. Out-of-county groups already are charged. Times when admission would be free would be set, but have not been decided. The fees probably would start after Jan. 1. Interim director Gene Umberger said the money was designed to cover budget cuts that would cost one position and pay for a new sign that would promote events and exhibits. The sign's cost is estimated at $35,000, but the museum has been given permission by Green Bay city government to put a sponsor's name on it. Umberger said he expects the fee will cause a drop in attendance, but noted a survey of museum visitors showed 75 percent would pay an admission charge. The sign has been a contentious issue between the museum and the County Board for some time. The museum has not been able to get the sign through the regular budget process. "First they said we have to get our attendance up," said Sup. Kevin Kuehn, who chaired a subcommittee that looked at increasing attendance. "So we littered the place with signs, and that helped, but then the city told us to cut back on the signs. Instead, we're going with one sign, but the county doesn't want to pay for it." The position to be covered by the fees is that of a recorder, a revenue-generating position as the recorder works with residents purchasing rights to use museum-owned photographs and film, Umberger said. Museum governing board member Kramer Rock, who is also on the corporate board of the museum, expressed concern about the charges, saying they had been considered in the past but did not seem to pay for themselves. "I'm very much concerned with public perception," he said, saying the public could get "a bad taste" if fees were established and that if the fees were dropped later as a failure, the public might not bother to remember that. But Dave Hoslet, the governing board's chairman, said even though he didn't like the idea of charging admission, "it should be given a chance." And Sup. Kathy Johnson said "it could be a last-ditch effort" for a county-run museum. The fees would be collected by already-hired security personnel, Umberger said. The museum had already cut its take of the county's tax levy more than the requested 15 percent, from $1,058,732 to $876,554.