RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- The Vanderbilt Museum on Long Island, threatened with closure next month, has been saved.
The Suffolk County Legislature voted 12 to 6 on Tuesday to raise park fees to fund an $800,000 rescue plan to keep it open.
The Centerport museum's endowment has dropped to $8.4 million from $12 million in January due to the financial crisis.
The resolution will raise golf fees by $3, campsites with electricity by $4 and shorten the term of a $20 county parks pass from three years to two.
The museum houses natural history specimens, ethnographic artifacts and fine and decorative arts collected by William Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. It draws more than 170,000 visitors a year.
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