Elmont Online

ALBANY -- The governor signed a bill paving the way but the state Education Department has no immediate plans to re-open the State Museum on Sundays.

"Our long-term goal is to open the museum up on Sunday. However, given the current fiscal climate -- including workforce cuts -- there are added complications and resource issues," said state Education Department spokesman Dennis Tompkins. "For the immediate future we don't see a way to make that happen."

The museum, housed in the marble Cultural Education Center on Madison Avenue, was open seven days a week from the 1970s through 2010, when cutbacks instituted by Gov. David Paterson forced the closure.

While acknowledging that the state is strapped for cash, some local officials cried foul: Why Sunday?

Attendance figures show Sunday is the second-most heavily attended day during winter and spring months. Education Department officials explained they chose to maximize cost savings by closing the entire building, which in addition to the museum houses the state archives and library. There was an old statute mandating the library remain open Monday through Friday, so the only days available for total shutdown were Saturday or Sunday.

The library and archives were already closed Sunday, so that's where the hatchet fell.

Newly aware of the old provision, the Legislature passed a bill this year changing the requirements for library hours -- now it must simply be open eight hours a day, five days a week, at the preference of the Education Department.

Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, said he sponsored the legislation to provide the needed "flexibility" to reopen the museum Sundays.

The new law can't override a lack of cash. The department's cultural education account was drained by the state in the years leading up to the 2010 closure. The department will give layoff notices to 19 workers this week in the wake of the Public Employees Federation's rejection of a new contract.

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