A controversy over the imposition of admittance fees on visitors who were not residents of the City of Milwaukee led to the museum being sold by the City to Milwaukee County in 1976. In 1992, amid assertions that the Museum was on the verge of bankruptcy and might have to be sold or completely privatized, a compromise was reached in which the county retained the museum's nominal ownership but all operating control was handed over to Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc., a not-for-profit controlled by local business interests such as Miller Brewing. Employee wages and benefits were slashed, but private donations expanded and the county's share of costs was diminished.