Flat Rock Playhouse funding on county commissioners agenda

From the Times-News:

Henderson County commissioners will kick off the new year Monday with a discussion of whether to release $50,000 in county funds to the Flat Rock Playhouse. They'll also hear from Sheriff Charlie McDonald about security at the 1995 courthouse and from a group of citizens seeking restrictions on assault weapons.

In November, commissioners voted 4-1 to freeze payment of $50,000 remaining from a $100,000 allocation the county budgeted for the Playhouse last summer, citing concerns about the theater's management and fiscal dealings. Because the vote wasn't unanimous, though, a second vote was required to hold the funds in county coffers.

Since then, some commissioners have reconsidered the Playhouse contribution after the nonprofit theater released a detailed business plan, began the process of hiring a new financial manager and won the support of several high-profile business leaders and the Town of Flat Rock, which ponied up $100,000 last month to help the struggling nonprofit pay down debt.

Though encouraged by recent improvements in the theater's financial picture, incoming Commissioner Grady Hawkins said Sunday he's not in favor of giving the Playhouse more county funds than the $50,000 that's already been disbursed....

“If I were running the [Hendersonville] Little Theater, I'd wonder why the government was compensating my competitor,” he said, adding that further funding for the Playhouse would be “setting a bad precedent.”

But Vice Chairman Tommy Thompson, one of four commissioners who voted to freeze the $50,000 in November, said he now supports allowing the next quarterly payment of $25,000 to be disbursed this week, on schedule....

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