The Health Adventure has filed for bankruptcy. It collected $8 million for a new $25 million science center, and has spent $11 million so far. $2 million of the donations came from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. The TDA collects room taxes in Buncombe County and then spends them on projects like peeling signs, insolvent parks that keep building, and bankrupt science museums. $500,000 of this amount remains in escrow.
Local hospitals have also been substantial benefactors. Where the hospitals get the money is not to be confused with overtreatment and billing errors that run systematically to the hospital’s advantage. Only cranks take a systems approach to money management.
The science museum was to be called Momentum. Funds were spent on “architectural and engineering fees, exhibit design, development of a master plan and salaries for employees hired to staff the museum.” Only $1.4 million was spent on site preparation investments, like a culvert, terracing for parking, an erosion pond, environmental impact studies, and an archaeological survey. At one point, the museum had 38 employees. Now it only has 20, and several have taken a pay cut, including the CEO, who earns $84,000 a year.
The Citizen-Times notes that philanthropists across the country have been stingier since the onset of the “Great Recession.” To make matters worse, the Health Adventure ran out of money before it had a chance to receive an anticipated $8-13 million in tax-exempt bonds through the state.
Meanwhile, the natives are growing restless. Why, they ask, do two-year-olds need to play with high-tech “Alice’s Wonderland” displays? Wasn’t the Health Adventure just host to an exhibit on boogers? Why are board members of operations that fail repeatedly appointed to boards of other operations that fail? Where did the money go, and where are the financial records?
