The City of Owensboro approved a municipal order Tuesday allowing the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum to use $100,000 of its capital maintenance fund to offset revenue lost due to COVID-19. City officials said they were allowing this transfer of funds because the coronavirus had negatively affected the Bluegrass Museum’s cash flow more than that of other organizations.
This is the second time the lease has been amended, though only the terms related to the use of the Museum’s capital reserve maintenance fund have changed. They must abide by all other aspects of the original lease and previous amendment.
“The City owns the building, and when the new museum was being developed, the City and the Museum entered into a lease to have the museum operate the facility,” City Manager Nate Pagan explained. “The lease requires the museum to have a capital maintenance reserve of $250,000 for capital and maintenance needs of the property.”
That $250,000 is still available in the museum’s maintenance reserve fund, Pagan noted. Because of the timing of COVID-19 and the cancellation of the ROMP Music Festival, the Bluegrass Museum has been facing a financial burden greater than that of a “typical organization,” Pagan said.
The amended lease will provide the Museum with $100,000 that will go specifically toward cash flow related to COVID-19 and ROMP.
The money must be repaid within five years to ensure funds remain available for the facility as needed, Pagan said.
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