Still on track
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, December 27, 2006
By Steve Gehrke
Standard-Examiner staff
Despite city funding cuts and the predictions of critics, Ogden's Union Station is running strong
OGDEN -- In July 2004, Ogden handed over operation and financial responsibility for Union Station to a volunteer foundation, raising worries that the historic building may die out.
Before the move, Ogden had given Union Station nearly $400,000 a year. After handing off control to the Union Station Foundation, the city erased nearly 90 percent of its operations funding, giving just $50,000 annually to the station as part of a five-year contract. Critics said such meager funding would not even be enough to keep the lights on.
But the city also promised capital improvement money, which Union Station can request from the City Council. With this help and the foundation's efforts, financial reports show that 21/2 years after the change of control, Union Station is not foundering as some had expected.
In 2004, its final year under city control, Union Station received about $370,000. The following year, its first under the foundation, the city provided the base operation funding of $50,000, plus an additional $200,000 for improvements. That improvement money went toward roof repairs and a butterfly canopy.
"In my opinion, Union Station is a very important historical marker and tourist destination," said City Council Chairman Jesse Garcia.
Garcia said station administrators propose needs once a year during the budget process
and the council puts serious consideration into funding the needs, but everything depends on the cost.
"The City Council has really supported this extensively within their ability to do so," said Jack McDonald, president of the Union Station Foundation, the 15-member volunteer board that now operates the facility.
Capital improvements
In addition, the foundation saw aid in the form of $285,000 in capital improvement through grants in 2006, mostly from county RAMP tax money and capital from the Crossroads of the West Heritage Area, which encompasses Union Station.
"The RAMP funding has really helped us along," McDonald said. "Those things and the City Council have been the major funding supporters."
Moving into 2007, the foundation is requesting nearly $340,000 to finish tile, roof and window restoration, to pave parking and to make two bathrooms handicapped accessible.
Still, where the city has tightened funding, the foundation appears to be picking up the reins and driving the station's budget upward. In 2006, Union Station brought in $1,432,000, almost a 10 percent, or $120,000, boost from its income under its final year of city control -- despite receiving $150,000 less in city funding.
In fact, Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said business is even better under the Union Station Foundation and cited the gift shop's increasing business as a prime example.
"I think the foundation has done a great job managing the facility," Godfrey said.
Foundation members and station directors praise dedicated volunteer work and community generosity for its ability to carry on.
Like Godfrey, they point to increased revenue from the gift shop in addition to daily room rentals and gallery sales for success -- all of which have doubled revenue since the city decreased operational funding.
"The city continues to make investments in the facility, but the foundation has successfully operated since the transfer," said John Patterson, Ogden's chief administrative officer. "When you have volunteers instead of employees, you have increased passion. You have a better ability to raise funds than if it were the city."
Patterson said the city had planned all along to help with improvement costs, and the city recognized several needs when it handed control over to Union Station Foundation. He expects most of those needs to be addressed and the building to be stabilized in the next five years.
McDonald said all funding is important because the station anchors historic 25th Street, and he called the facility a major nationally recognized icon for the city, Weber County and all of Northern Utah.
Union Station was built in 1924 and is located on Wall Avenue at 25th Street. The station is a complex of four buildings totaling about 150,000 square feet and houses art galleries, a gift shop, banquet and meeting facilities, a research library, a railroad exhibit, a natural history museum, a firearms museum, a car museum and a restaurant.
Looking to the future
The foundation is still looking to add more, but McDonald said the only direction to expand is southward to the Shupe-Williams Candy Co. property, a 2-plus-acre parcel that has been vacant since March, when a fire destroyed the vacant Shupe-Williams building.
However, the Ogden RDA on Dec. 19 authorized a sale of the property to enable construction of a warehouse and showroom for Contempo Tile Inc. on the site. It remains in dispute whether the company plans to follow through on the purchase.
The estimated value of the Union Station buildings and museum collections is more than $25 million. In 2005, about 300,000 people visited the station, according to officials.
"It's not a slam dunk to operate, and the funds are really tight," McDonald said. "We rely heavily on volunteers, memberships and donations to keep our doors open."
Keri Wilde, museum manager, agreed and said workers had been more actively fundraising and pursuing memberships since the city handed over control. Wilde said there has also been a focus on internally produced financial support from events, leases, museum admissions and especially the gift store, which dedicates all its income to the station operation funds and brought in $100,000 in 2006.
"Visitorship and utilizing our space is key. We try to stay fresh on our interests and priorities," Wilde said. "Our funding is tight. By all means, we are not rolling in it, but we're getting by."
More than half of the station's $1.4 million budget last year came from donations and grants.
Capital improvements and employee costs are generally some of the larger expenses for the station, though Wilde said it employs only about 10 paid workers, focusing on museum operations, maintenance, events, directing and fundraising. About 100 workers volunteer their time, including docents and the board of directors.
McDonald said its tight budget leads to struggles in spreading the word about its services because so much of the money it receives goes to fund building maintenance and daily operations.
"Marketing is a real challenge on such tight funds, but marketing dictates the number of people we see," McDonald said. "But I really want to dwell on the benefit of the station to the community."
Wilde agreed, saying the station needs the community to stay afloat.
"We are by no means boo-hooing about our funding," she said. "We just don't have a big brother anymore."
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