Montana Heritage Commission

Funding

Finding a long-term source of reliable funding remains a very important goal for the Commission. Since 1997, the project has received an additional $7.3 million from sixteen sources over the original funding package provided by the 1997 Legislature. The earned revenue has more than doubled over the past six years, reaching $323,000. But, there remains an estimated need for over $22 million in capital projects alone.

The Commission's operations and preservation programs require more than $1 million per year at the current level . This money comes from operating revenue, bed tax monies, federal grants, vehicle registration, private donations and filming income. Bed-tax funds in the amount of $400,000 per year were committed to the project, but this funding source is scheduled to end in June 2007. The 2003 Legislature appropriated 25 cents of each vehicle registration to Virginia City with the option for registrants to opt out of this fee. Click here to see a breakdown of our Funding and Expenditures for the 2003 and 2004 fiscal years.

We have been successful in obtaining grant funds earmarked for specific projects from the National Park Service, Save America's Treasures , Institute for Museum and Library Services, Federal Emergency Management Association, Bureau of Land Management and Gold West Country. These grants have been and are being used for fire protection, electrical upgrades, building stabilization and preservation, artifact assessment and conservation, visitor center staffing, and brochure printing. We will continue to seek funding for other needs to save the heritage of Montana and our nation.

Wish List

The Virginia City project has many needs. There are hundreds of thousands of items in the collection, said to be the largest collection of Western Americana outside of the Smithsonian Institution. Every item needs some sort of care and attention. There are nearly 250 buildings, all in need of attention. All of this work is ongoing forever--not single, one-time tasks. Thus, we have to think in terms of a sustainable funding source to care for this important part of Montana's, the West's, and America's heritage.

We believe two trust funds would allow the Commission to 1) meet basic on-going maintenance needs of the collection and the buildings, and 2) address the smaller capital projects in the buildings. The first fund devoted to the buildings, would need a corpus of $6 million. At 4% interest the trust would generate $240,000 annually, enough to fund a continuous operation enabling the Commission to work on the buildings and complete maintenance and smaller capital projects. The second trust fund at the same $6 million level, would generate the same amount of dollars to allow work to be performed on the collection.

Both funds would provide a basis for the preservation of these assets, and could be supplemented with grants, earned revenue, and other funding sources that would allow more preservation, access, education, and entertainment. Supplemental funds would also be needed to accomplish the larger capital projects such as fire protection, foundations, etc.

Contributions are always welcome and can be made to: Montana Heritage Commission, PO Box 201204, Helena, MT 59620-1204 or to the Montana History Foundation, PO Box 863, Helena, MT 59604. There are also numerous special project needs that we would be glad to discuss with you. Phone (406) 449-6522 or (406) 443-2081.