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At the time of the gift, Mr. Bruce and his cousin's widow, Mrs. Howard Bruce (both now deceased), donated an additional $100,000 to assist in the maintenance of the property. As reflected in the minutes of the Regents meetings of 1964, it was clearly stated by the donors that the Smithsonian would accept the house and grounds free and clear. Mr. Ripley stated at the time that Ambassador Bruce hoped that the Institution would not dispose of the property during the lifetime of Mrs. Howard Bruce. At that January meeting, the Secretary was empowered to negotiated an understanding "that the house will be indefinitely conserved unless the Institution determines this to be burdensome and a sale is arranged."

As a Conference Center the cost of maintaining Belmont has averaged a net loss of close to $50,000 per year, not including the need for occasional major repairs. By the end of the current fiscal year, the Institution will have expended in excess of $1.0 million in operating this facility, of which all but the $100,000 contribution of the Bruces an d$47,000 from a specific one-time fiscal year 1967 federal appropriation for Belmont repairs, has come from unrestricted nonappropriated trust funds. Over the years operations have been supervised by an extremely capable and cost-conscious staff with optimum year-round usage fro conferences, not over 5% of which is Smithsonian-related. It is felt that the operating loss cannot be further reduced since Belmont is not of a sufficient size to break even. The facility currently houses 24 guests; it is estimated that accommodations would have to be constructed to house 60 guests or more to make the Center self-supporting.