Pretty incredible High Point Enterprise article on the various and sundry debtors to the City of High Point. Recognizable names, indeed:

As of Sept. 9, a total of $86,748.40 was owed by 20 customers who were at least 30 days past due in paying for garbage they dumped at the landfill. Some of the past due landfill accounts have recognizable names, including International Market Centers, which owns the three largest furniture showrooms in High Point ($1,779.68), Guilford County Schools ($3,318.82), the North Carolina Department of Transportation ($1,434.86) and the High Point Housing Authority ($1,084.50).

Then there’s the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, which still owes the city money dating to the 1990s. City Manager Strib Boynton explains:

NCSF suspended its operations this summer because of financial woes.

In recent years, NCSF expanded its staff from three to 15 and its payroll nearly doubled from $536,152 to $1,001,256 following a donation that totalled $1.37 million from James Millis Jr. and his wife, Debbie.
“Basically, what happened was, Jim Millis was very kind and said, ‘I’m going to give you a bunch of money; go match it.’ Rather than match it, they hired a whole bunch of people and burned up the money,” said Boynton. “We’re constantly hit by people wanting us to forgive the debt.”

Gboro found a way around that problem —they just forgive the debt right up front.