Museum-goers who love nature, butterflies and giant mammoth fossils may have to fork over more cash to gain access to three Los Angeles County museums that are asking for a 20% hike in admission fees to help them pay for operating costs that rose due to inflation and higher usage.
The county’s Natural History Museum (NHM), La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum have floated a proposal before the county Board of Supervisors to raise adult general admission prices from $15 per person to $18. They are also asking for a bump in reduced rates for seniors, students and youth, ages 13 to 17, from $12 to $14. Tickets for children 3 to 12 are $7.
The fee hikes go before the supervisors on Tuesday, May 23 and will require three votes of the five supervisors for approval.
These museums, which feature popular exhibits from the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum to fossils of saber-toothed cats and giant sloths dating to the Ice Age at the Tar Pits and Page Museum, will collectively raise about $1.1 million in revenue if the new ticket prices are approved, according to a letter contained in a county report written by Lori Bettison-Varga, president and director of the museums.
The revenue will be used to offset rising costs associated with educational programs and free admission for school field trips, maintenance of facilities and increases in employee wages and benefits, the letter stated.
Providing free admission to all school children, teachers, veterans and active military, has cut into the county museums’ operating budget. Before the March 2020 start of the COVID-19 pandemic, one-third of the Natural History Museum’s 1.3 million visitors got in for free. In 2022, the Exposition Park museum saw a jump in school field trips, and free admissions now account for about half, the letter said.
As the museums ramp up to handle more visitors, costs have risen, wrote Bettison-Varga. The Natural History Museum anticipates completing a welcome…
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