Marine Science Center has its future in balance

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, September 6, 2006

POULSBO — The grand dreams of bringing Poulsbo’s Marine Science Center back to life received a financial wake-up call as city officials grapple the question of how much support the city can provide.

The Poulsbo Public Works Committee asked for an estimate of the utility and maintenance costs associated with reopening the center from Public Works Director Jeff Bauman at its Aug. 23 meeting.

A week later, the answer posed a $160,000 question the council will have to answer when it approves its 2007 budget.

“I don’t think the council is ready to face the reality of the Marine Science Center,” Councilman Mike Regis, who serves as public works committee chairman, said after the meeting.

In addition to providing the building to the Marine Science Center Foundation free of charge, the foundation has also asked the city to pay all of the utilities, Regis said.

“That’s a bit much to ask for, and I don’t know if we should do it,” Regis said.

However, in the interim, Admiral Bruce Harlow (Ret.) asked the public works committee to allow the foundation access to the building so it can show the state Legislature what it has done with the $250,000 grant it received during the 2006 session.

“If we don’t get going to do anything, then the best thing would be to return the $250,000,” Harlow said. “Let us go in for the purpose of showing how the concept would go into the building.”

Members of the MSCF wouldn’t do anything to the structure until a lease agreement is signed, but it would allow the foundation to generate interest in the program and begin developing credibility, he said.

“I don’t have a problem with that, and I understand your need for proof of concept,” Regis said. “However, before you do anything I’d like a signed agreement.”

Before the grant can be released to the city and passed on to the foundation, Deputy City Clerk Carol Etgen said the city has to submit the request to that state — a process that could take four weeks before the money becomes available.“If we get the grant by Oct. 1, that would give us October, November and December before the next Legislative session begins,” Harlow said. “That’s not much time.”

Since the public works committee is passing the issue onto the council’s finance/administration committee, Councilman Ed Stern said he would recommend $160,000 for utilities.

However, it will be up to the finance/administration committee to identify a funding source within the city’s 2007 budget, Stern said.

That request will be weighed against the other new program requests in the 2007 budget. A decision won’t be made until the city’s final budget is approved in late December, Stern said.

The Aug. 30 meeting brought all of the underlying issues surrounding the Marine Science Center to a critical point where its future will finally be decided.

Much has changed since Bight of Poulsbo founder Bill Austin resurrected Mudstock in August 2005 to rally the community behind reopening the center.

Change of plans

When Mayor Kathryn Quade took office in January, she made the Marine Science Center a priority for her first year in office and played a primary role in securing funding from the state Legislature for the center.

In a letter to state Rep. Helen Sommers (D-Seattle), Quade outlined an estimated budget for the first three years of the center.

“The structure of this plan calls for the City of Poulsbo to be the overseeing body for the disbursement of funds to meet expenses,” Quade wrote. “As the property owner of both the building and the land, the City of Poulsbo has a direct vested interest in the success of the program.”

The city’s inclusion of $75,000 in its 2006 budget for the center, demonstrates its commitment to the center and its future, Quade wrote.

The budget presented to Rep. Sommers and the rest of the state Legislature included revenues from donations, memberships, admissions and Legislative appropriations for the first two years of the center.

However, in April, the Poulsbo Marine Science Foundation, Inc. presented a vastly different plan to the council’s community services committee than the one that garnered Legislative approval to the tune of $250,000.

“Every effort must be made to resist charging for admission, and all peoples must have equal accessibility to the aquarium and educational displays,” the concept plan states.

The plan also states that the city must make a long-term commitment to the center and provide the building rent free in addition to covering maintenance costs.

The final prerequisite in the concept plan is “we must identify a source of long-term funding, i.e. imposing a sales and/or use tax, Local Improvement District, etc.”

The concept plan estimates the city’s contribution for the building and maintenance costs at $250,000 annually with participating school districts providing $500,000 annually along with the Port of Poulsbo and participating tribes contributing as well.