CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Patriots Point is more than half a million dollars short of what officials thought the museum would make during the 2019 fiscal year, which ends in late June.
Chris Hauff, a spokesperson for Patriots Point, said the shortage comes from how officials with the museum projected revenue.
In the past, Patriots Point officials generate revenue projections based on data from the prior year.
“We get revenues based off of land we lease, we get revenues based off of the gift shop, parking, ticket sales--all that we put into those,” Hauff said.
But Hauff called 2018 an “anomaly” because revenue and attendance were much higher than usual.
“2018 was the best year Patriots Point Naval Maritime Museum has had in 42 years," Hauff said. “We had 310,000 people come see the museum."
Because projected revenue for fiscal year 2019 was based on an anomalous year, Hauff said the shortfall was inevitable.
“If we’re down as far as revenue, then we’re down as far as what we can spend, how we can build new exhibits, how we can market what we have here,” Hauff said.
Hauff said Patriots Point officials are now considering a different method to calculate projected revenue to avoid a mistake like this one.
One proposal would use revenue averages from several years to calculate new revenue projections.
Despite the $500,000 shortfall from revenue projects for this year, Hauff said the museum has seen more visitors this January and February compared to those same months last year.
Because the fiscal year has not ended yet, the difference between actual and projected revenue could still change for Patriots Point.
Copyright 2019 WCSC. All rights reserved.