Legislators approve $3K in contingency funds for Cobblestone Museum

Organization was dropped as line item in 2025 budget

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Cobblestone Museum, a National Historic Landmark on Route 104 in Gaines, is a caretaker of many artifacts from throughout the county.

ALBION – The Cobblestone Museum, which was dropped as a line item in the county’s 2025 budget, will get $3,000 in funding from the county’s contingency fund.

The museum was in the 2024 county budget as a line item for $3,000. But county officials said the museum didn’t submit the paperwork for a formal request for funding in 2025, resulting in the museum being excluded in the budget. (The museum made its request through Fred Miller, a county legislator.)

The museum received $3,000 from the contingency fund in prior years. During a Dec. 17 meeting, the Legislature approved the $3,000, although Legislator Don Allport, R-Gaines, opposed it.

Allport has consistently opposed county funding for the museum in most recent years. He said the organization didn’t follow the proper process and he said the county shouldn’t be contributing to non-profit organizations.

“This is setting a precedent,” he said.

The other six legislators approved the funding for the museum, which expects to start construction on an expanded visitor center this year.

The county’s total budget includes $99,092,747 in spending, a 7.1 percent increase from 2024 that increases taxes by 1.95 percent.

The county allocates some funding to different agencies that provide services in the community.

Here are the funding amounts for 2025: Soil & Water Conservation District, $100,500; GO Art!, $4,000; Cornell Cooperative Extension, $240,000; four public libraries, $10,087 collectively; Orleans Economic Development Agency, $200,000; and Mercy Flight, $5,000.

The Sportsmen’s Federation used to be in the county budget and typically received $1,000 a year through 2023. It was dropped to $0 in 2024 and wasn’t allocated any funding for 2025.

The neighboring county of Genesee gives more to its museum and agencies that provide services in the community. Genesee has 58,388 people, compared to 40,343 in Orleans County.

Genesee has 44.7 percent more people, and nearly doubles the spending in Orleans County – $190,415,199 budget compared to $99,092,747 in Orleans.

Here are the amounts Genesee gives to some of the agencies in the community: Holland Land Office Museum, $38,554; libraries, $53,680; Soil & Water, $173,851; Cornell Cooperative Extension, $408,613; and GO Art!, $7,500.