Poof. From a $38m. loan down to $12.4m. Guess the lenders needed to book some tax losses.
But taxpayers are still on the hook for supplying several million more of that total. A look at the revenue tells us why:
There were 73,190 visitors in July 2009, compared with 81,393 a year earlier. But the average visitor spent more — $20.75 compared with $18.32.
In other words, visitor revenue inched up 1.4 percent to $1.51m. from $1.49m. That is still no where near enough to to keep the doors open long-term.
Update: Expect Mecklenburg County taxpayers to get hit for another $4m. — at least.