COEUR d'ALENE - Museum of North Idaho officials are hoping to convince the Kootenai County commissioners to restore - and ideally boost - funding to the facility after a cut last year, the museum director said on Monday.

The museum does "a lot with very little" said Director Dorothy Dahlgren, and she worries about the impacts on general operations without the county's support.

"We're trying to grow the museum and provide more services, take care of more artifacts," Dahlgren said. "Funding is needed to do that."

Dahlgren and the museum board have invited the commissioners on a facility tour today, during which they hope to instill the importance of supporting the museum.

The commissioners informed the nonprofit officials last spring that the county would provide the museum with $10,322 for this year, Dahlgren said, a drop from the usual $15,000.

The county's dollars contribute to the museum's overall $78,849 budget, she said, which covers general operations like program exhibits, utilities, and payroll for the single full-time employee, herself.

"It remains to be seen," Dahlgren said of how the county's reduction will impact the museum.

More financial help is needed for pursuing a new building to address lack of space, she added.

"Of course we'd hope that they'll add to (what the county provides), as we're hoping to expand," she said, adding that the museum has received increasing financial support from the county since the '70s. "We're appreciative of anything they'd like to do."

In the museum's newsletter, board of directors president Mike Dolan stated that the county's cut equals a 12 percent reduction in the museum's annual operating income.

The board doesn't want to pressure the county, Dolan said on Monday, but the museum does rely heavily on that funding source.

"We are the major, if not the only, archiving group for preserving Kootenai County and North Idaho history," Dolan said, adding that the museum has several thousand artifacts used for research and studies. "My opinion is the county should have some interest in preserving that public heritage. It's up to the commission to decide at what level."

According to the museum's newsletter, the county's $15,000 contribution in 2011 was the nonprofit's second highest income source, just behind $17,755 from membership fees.

The museum took in $8,965 from admission in 2011, and more than $7,000 in donations.

Commissioner Dan Green said the county had discovered a $10,000 fund balance last year that was designated for the museum, but for unknown reasons had been sitting unused.

The commissioners chose to provide those funds to the museum, Green said, instead of levying dollars for the facility as done before.

He doesn't remember being told at the time that the museum had been receiving $15,000.

"I thought we were being nice cleaning out this old money and giving it to the museum," Green said.

He also believes the county hasn't been reviewing how the museum spends the funds it receives, he said, a statutory requirement he wants to follow now.

"We need to review their (the museum's) budget and the amount we fund them," Green said.

No decision has been made on how the county will continue to fund the museum, Green added, though he leans toward non-mandated services being self-sufficient.

"I think generally people who use things should pay for it," he said.

The other commissioners couldn't be reached for comment on Monday.

Dahlgren said the museum is considering other funding options.

Robert Singletary has been contracted to boost visitation and memberships, available for $25, $50 or $100.

The museum could also raise its ticket price of $3 for adults and $1 for children, she noted.

"That's kind of a double edged sword. If you raise it, you're probably going to lose some visitation," Dahlgren said. "In this economic time, it seems like a shame to do that."