The Henderson County Commissioners decided to “kick the can down the road.” The decision followed Senator Tom Apodaca’s amendment to a room tax bill that would make the Flat Rock Playhouse the sole recipient of the new 1-cent tax. If passed, the commissioners would be awarding the private theater $450,000 from the public coffers over the next two years.
Whereas the majority wished to delay a decision in order to hold an informational meeting August 8, Commissioner Larry Young said he had reviewed the playhouse’s financials and found gross mismanagement. “And that’s the reason they’re in financial trouble.”
Commissioner Mike Edney challenged Young, saying, “We don’t need to be nitpicking the playhouse and their 990s when we don’t do that with all the other nonprofits that we give money to.”
Producing Artistic Director Vincent Marini requested that the vote be delayed “to give playhouse officials a chance to develop and present to the commissioners a financial plan detailing exactly how the additional revenue would be utilized.”
