Yakima Valley Museum to lay off three employees

YAKIMA -- The Yakima Valley Museum will lay off three people this spring who account for one and a half full-time employees, said museum director John Baule.

The staff is currently at 11 employees, or the full-time equivalent of seven. The layoffs are the product of the current economic climate, Baule said.

"It's the same thing that's happening to everybody across the board ... the pressures of rising fixed overhead," he said. "While our revenue continues to grow some, it doesn't grow as fast as the expenses."

The cut will return the museum to its normal base level for staffing, Baule said. In recent years, the museum has landed grants to work on several special projects, and that allowed additional hiring.

"We tried to keep it going," but it didn't work out, he said.

After the layoffs, the museum staff will be the equivalent of five and a half full-time employees, or eight people.