CINCINNATI -- More than one million people visit the Museum Center at Union Terminal each year and that puts a lot of wear and tear on the 76-year-old building.
That’s why voters are being asked to approve a tax levy on Nov. 3 that will help pay for the repair, maintenance and operation of the former train station.
Issue #6 is a renewal of part of an existing 2004 levy, but it’s for 0.02 mils less than is currently being collected.
The owner of a $100,000 home currently pays $4.93 a year for the Museum Center levy. Passage of Issue #6 decreases that by $0.50.
Approximately $16 million will be generated by the levy over the next five years to pay for upkeep of the Queensgate facility.
It was constructed in 1933 as a hub for all railroad traffic in and out of Cincinnati. As trains gave way to cars and air travel, Union Terminal sat empty for years. It had a brief revitalization as a shopping mall.
When that venture failed, the building became the Museum Center, housing the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Children’s Museum, the Cincinnati Historical Society and an IMAX Theater.
The proposed levy will provide support for operational costs such as insurance, utilities, maintenance and capital repair. The county will also work with Museum Center leaders to develop a long-term financing plan for capital improvements. That could include private funding, plus city, state and federal dollars.
