Museum draws criticism from Mayor

The museum budget also drew the attention of city council last night, with Mayor Sharie Minions saying the budget is insane compared to other area museums.

“With some quick research, the City of Parksville spends $65,000 a year on their museum, the City of Campbell River spends $60,000 a year on their museum, the City of Courtney spends $180,000 a year on their museum – and I should say it is the most incredible museum I’ve ever been in for a similar sized municipality – and we spend $439,000 a year net of revenues on our museum,” she said. “This is insane. So we have a fantastic museum, but this is insane. We cannot spend that level on our museum, excluding excluding McLean Mill and all of the other heritage investments that we have and other municipalities have other heritage investments as well. That is just the spending on museums.”

Minions said the museum’s current level of service is out of line with what the community can afford and asked staff to come back with proposed cuts.