LEWISTON — The financial pressure of building a new home near Simard-Payne Park and maintaining the temporary home in the Bates Mill is proving difficult for Museum L-A.

“We’re trying to keep two going, and it’s very hard,” Executive Director Rachel Desgrosseilliers said Thursday. “Although we have fully paid-down land and a building and a develop-able site, that didn’t get there without some help.”

Desgrosseilliers said the museum has to find an additional $85,000 to survive as a bare-bones operation.

“That’s just to keep going the way we have,” she said. “That’s without raises for anybody for a very long time and us not paying the professional salaries we should be paying.”

Desgrosseilliers said the operation has $285,000 in revenue to operate the location on Canal Street in the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex. That money goes to building utilities, rent, supplies and salaries for four full-time and two part-time employees.

The museum needs at least $85,000 more to make it into the black, she said.

“I had a one-year reserve, but we had to let it go down to six months and then three months,” she said. “But we’ve never defaulted. We’ve been lucky.”

Individual displays and programs are being paid through their own fundraising efforts.

Part of the problem is paying for the renovations of the old Camden Yarns Mill south of Kennedy Park, the planned future home of Museum L-A. The museum bought the land and building there in 2009 and has slowly been renovating it.

“We are free and clear and we don’t have any debt,” Desgrosseilliers said. “We had grants, but there were maintenance things we had to take care of that were not included in the grants.”

She said the museum has had to take $112,000 out of its operating budgets for the past couple of years to pay for part of the renovations, specifically to replace an electrical transformer, building security and regular mowing and landscaping. That’s a big part of the reason they are in a bind now.

“It had to be done,” Desgrosseilliers said. “We want to build a solid base and be self-sustaining. In the new building, we’ll have more opportunities to make revenue. It’ll be our building and our hands won’t be tied, so we’re planning for the future.”

Desgrosseilliers made her pitch to councilors from both cities at their joint meeting Wednesday night, asking for $42,000 from each city to keep things going forward. She’s looking for other grants and donors, as well.

“Anybody who knows me knows we’re not giver-uppers,” she said. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it does happen, one way or another. I’m not going to leave a stone unturned.”

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