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The Damascus Heritage Society is hoping for a little more time to raise the money needed to fulfill requirements of a state bond bill set to expire in three months.

The state legislature in 2007 awarded the Heritage Society $200,000 to build a museum provided the organization could raise $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in in-kind contributions, such as the donation of material or services.

The money needs to be raised and spent by June, according to the terms of the bond bill.

The museum has fulfilled the in-kind portion of the grant and is less than $10,000 away from meeting its monetary goal. An April golf tournament is expected to put the Heritage Society over the top, President Randy Scritchfield said.

However, the state has asked that the paperwork showing the museum has met the terms be filed by the end of this month.

Since that is not possible because the money is not yet in hand, the museum has asked for an extension.

In most years the legislature would automatically grant the extension and the likelihood that the extension will be granted this year is good, said Sen. Rona Kramer (D-Dist. 14) of Olney, "but in this economy the capital committee is looking carefully on whether projects are ready to go."

Any project that cannot show real progress will probably be cut, Kramer said.

"I'm trying to make the case the Damascus Heritage Society museum is shovel ready," Kramer said.

The Damascus Heritage Society made visible progress in recent months in transforming a surplus Montgomery County Public Schools portable classroom into a museum. The trailer is parked behind the library on Woodfield Road.

The trailer is on a permanent foundation and the exterior has a fresh coat of paint and new shutters.

A contractor was recently hired to connect the building to electricity, said Dan King, Heritage Society secretary. Once the electricity is working, volunteers can get to work on the inside of the building.

"I don't think there's anybody at this point who doesn't believe we're going to have a museum," said King, who testified in Annapolis last month.

"If we can get this, we'll really be in good shape," he said.

The Damascus Heritage Society held its first museum planning meeting in November 2005, spurred by the death earlier that year of Buck Gladhill. Gladhill, a local businessman and a founding member of the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department, was known as a gifted storyteller and created his own collection of old fire engines, tractors, office furniture and business ledgers.