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South Carolina State Museum asks for recurring rent, staffing funds and $20 million for renovation phases
Summary
Museum leaders told the House subcommittee they need increased recurring rent to expand into vacated Department of Administration space, funding to restore staff levels, and capital dollars for phased renovations and safety upgrades.
South Carolina State Museum Executive Director Amy Bartomellia told the Public Education and Special Schools Subcommittee the museum is seeking a mix of recurring and nonrecurring funding to support expanded public programming, finishing renovation phases, and safety and technology improvements.
Bartomellia said the museum has seen a recovery since the pandemic: "We are up in all areas, revenue across the board," and noted that "our school group visitation in December was up 216% from the previous year." The museum reported a collection of about 1,100,000 objects, of which roughly a million are natural-history specimens they want digitized for wider research and classroom use.
Why it matters: The museum is asking the Legislature to support a one-time capital push and several recurring increases so it can use newly available space as the Department of Health and Environmental Control vacates part of the Columbia Mills building, expand education programming across the state, and finish remaining renovation phases that organizers say are necessary to make exhibits and storage accessible and safe.
Museum requests and funding details reported to the subcommittee include: - Recurring rent increase: museum staff said they currently pay $1,800,000 through a proviso but estimate they will need about $3,400,000 to cover rent and building maintenance once the West Wing/other floors are repurposed (museum described this as a pass-through to the Department of Administration). - Governor-recommended recurring operating support: $5,000,000 to help cover exhibition renovations, staffing and program costs. - Capital request: $20,000,000 for the next two phases of renovations, to be coordinated with Department of Administration work on HVAC and public spaces. - Staffing: museum leaders said staffing fell from 67 full‑time positions at opening to as few as 22 during hard years and that recent recruitments added eight full-time employees; they requested roughly $1,000,000 to fund the remaining eight unfunded full‑time positions on the books. - Nonrecurring safety/technology requests: $300,000 to replace and rewire the public address and alarm system after recent security and weather incidents; approximately $40,000 (recurring) for IT equipment refresh plus additional server/storage capacity to hold digitized collections.
Grants and partnerships noted in the presentation included nearly $1,000,000 in federal grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to digitize collections, an additional $250,000 grant for natural-history work, and an $800,000 grant from the South Carolina 250th Commission for a Revolutionary War exhibition planned to open on Carolina Day 2026. The museum also described a new planetarium show and traveling exhibits and said it had raised funds for digitization and partnerships with county historical societies.
On revenue potential, Chief Revenue and Operations Officer Doug Behrman told the subcommittee rental activity produces roughly 20 weddings a year and said "a typical wedding is probably going to result in a rental fee with the add ons and things for about $5,000 for us on most of them." Bartomellia and staff estimated that adding fourth-floor rental and programming space could increase annual rental revenues substantially (they cited an estimate of around $600,000 a year with additional space).
The presentation included floor plans for the proposed First Floor education wing and Fourth Floor rental/programming space and asked that the subcommittee prioritize the recurring rent increase in the budget to secure the Department of Administration cooperation and the opportunity to expand public-facing space.
Museum officials offered follow-up materials and invited subcommittee members to visit the renovated floors and view objects; they fielded questions about carryover reserves (reported carryover of about $2.1 million last year, with budgeting that anticipates about $600,000 in carryover at year end) and prioritized the rent/provision increase over the $20 million capital ask because of timing to secure space.
Ending: Museum leaders said they will provide additional details and floor plans to staff and welcome legislative follow up and site visits as the subcommittee considers the budget requests.
