Council vote could reduce some museum fees

The Las Cruces City Council has unanimously adopted a new fee schedule for the Las Cruces Museum System to provide uniformity in the fees it charges for camps, classes and programs. 

The vote, taken at the council’s Monday, Sept. 16, meeting, could reduce the minimum fee for participation in some museum programs and children’s camps as well as an extension of hours for some.

The specific changes approved by the city council include:

• Studio programs for ages 6-17 and adults and summer, spring and winter camps: Potentially decrease the minimum fee in the event grant-funded classes become available. That could reduce the minimum fee for studio programs from $25 or $40, depending on topic, funding stream and age group. The change could reduce the minimum fee for camps from $5, $10, $15 or $25 to zero.
• Museum workshops: Extends the length of a workshop from the current one to-six-hours to two-to-20 hours.
• Desert Treks: A name change and expansion of the description to use this program in all four museums instead of solely the Museum of Nature and Science.
• Scout merit badge: Variable program length depending on the badge in question and changing the fee from per child to per troop to streamline the registration process. The previous fee of $10-$20 per child was changed to $40 for a scout troop of up to 12 members.

Fees are calculated to 20-30 percent of the cost of programming, according to city documents. Almost three-quarters of the programs offered by the city museums are free of charge.

“The fee structure for those programs that do have a charge is designed to offer cost-effective services to the public, encourage participation in Museum System offerings and lessen the financial burden on the city,” according to city documents.

The city Museum System consists of four facilities: Branigan Cultural Center and the Las Cruces Art, Nature and Science, and Railroad museums. The museums are open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday. The museums are also open until 8 p.m. the first Friday of each month.

Visit las-cruces.org/1523/Museum-System.

Mike Cook may be reached at mike@lascrucesbulletin.com.