Jeanine Clarke: Before city charges admission to historic buildings, tell us exactly why

Re “City considers fee for museum, mansion” (Page 3A, May 23): The McHenry Mansion and Museum are jewels in the city of Modesto, open to visitors at no charge. The Mansion is closed on Saturdays for private events and the Museum is closed Mondays.

At the Mansion, docents provide morning tours for school children and afternoon tours for all visitors. They also provide an outreach program for third grade classes and staff the house for the Dickens Fair and Fourth of July Open House – all at no cost to the city.

For those of us concerned with the current thoughts on charging admission, we need answers to the following questions:

What are the specific expenses for each building? What is the $60,000 admission fee income based upon? What is the income from rentals? What percentage of the total city budget is spent on the two buildings?

We ask that those recommending an admission charge to answer these questions in the newspaper and, above all, make no decisions until there is public input. Past and future visitors deserve no less. Surely the city can find the funds to support these beautiful examples of Modesto history and keep them admission free.

This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Jeanine Clarke: Before city charges admission to historic buildings, tell us exactly why."