Muskegon County panel approves FY2025 Lakeshore Museum Center budget after trustees’ review

The Muskegon County Community Development and Strategic Planning Committee voted Nov. 14 to approve the Lakeshore Museum Center’s FY2025 operating budget.

Bob Lubitz, the county’s community development director, introduced Melissa Horton, identified in the transcript as the Lakeshore Museum Center’s president/executive director, who said the budget was reviewed and recommended by the museum’s board finance committee and approved by the board of trustees last month. “Basically this is a very, standard budget for us,” Horton said, adding the plan is balanced and that the museum saw roughly a $200,000 increase from fiscal year 2024 tied to a roughly $200,000 millage increase.

Horton attributed the largest portion of the increase to personnel costs, citing changes to federal minimum wage laws and related exemptions as drivers of higher payroll expenses. Committee members said they appreciated the level of detail provided on the income side and asked no substantive questions. The committee approved the budget by voice vote.

The approval is for an operations budget; Horton told commissioners there were no surprises in the draft. The committee did not record any roll-call vote counts in the transcript excerpt; minutes show the motion carried by voice vote. No additional conditions or follow-up tasks were stated in the discussion recorded in the transcript.

Next steps: the budget will proceed per county practice; the transcript does not specify any additional reporting requirements or implementation milestones.