CITY CONSIDERING ZOO, MUSEUM FEES

The Lindsay administration announced yesterday that it was “re‐evaluating” its opposi tion to admission fees in city aided museums and zoos.

“In the past,” said August Heckscher, Administrator of Parks, Recreational and Cul tural Affairs, “where public funds have been available we have generally favored keeping admission free. But we are in a time when many old ideas have to be re‐examined.”

The Lindsay administration has been publicizing the city's fiscal plight, partly with an eye toward the legislators in Wash ington and Albany who will be asked to vote financial help to the city.

Mr. Heckscher's announce ment followed a meeting at City Hall in which he partici pated recently with the Mayor and officials of various cultural institutions. During the meeting one institution's representative asked if the city's attitude on paid admissions might be changeable.

Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Heck scher agreed that it would be.

Funds Decrease

“All the cultural institutions aided by the city are being hit by the current economic condi tions in the nation,” Mr. Heck scher said yesterday. “On the one hand the funds they receive from endowments, investments and private contributions have fallen off. Secondly, as part of a budget reduction affecting all aspects of the city govern ment's activities, cuts in appro priations to these institutions were recently initiated.”

The 14 institutions aided by the city that are involved are: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The American Museum of Natural History. The New York Botanical Gardens. The New York Zoological Society. The Brooklyn Museum. The Brooklyn Children's Museum. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The Queens Botanic Garden. The Hall of Science in Queens. The Staten Island Institute. The Staten Island Historical So ciety. The Staten Island Zoological So ciety. The Museum of the City of New York. The Wave Hill Center for Environ mental Studies in the Bronx.

Some of these institutions already charge fees. The Met ropolitan Museum has a system of mandatory contributions, with the amount left, up to the visitor but a dollar for each adult suggested. The Museum of Natural History has admis sion fees for the Planetarium and some special exhibits.

City Would Continue Aid

Changing these fee structures or establishing new ones at the other institutions would not bring in a large income in terms of the institutions' costs. “They would get some added income, but the city and private insti tutions would still contribute the bulk of the support,” a spokesman for Mr. Heckscher said yesterday.

In letters to the administrators of the 14 institutions, Mr. Heck scher asked for “thoughts on this issue,” but he offered no suggestions on amounts or col lection methods and noted: “There is a considerable area of choice open to each institu tion.”

These choices would include voluntary or mandatory contri butions or fixed admission charges. In the latter case, “the amount will want to be serious ly considered, as well as cate gories of citizens to be exempt and the provision for certain free days,” Mr. Heckscher said.

Under agreements between each institution and the city, Mr. Heckscher would have to approve any fee‐policy change.