No, mine are from May. But let us presume for the sake of argument they are from February. If the Ark Encounter only had a total of 645,000 visitors from the time it opened in 2016 to the time of that reporting, do you honestly believe it doubled that number in attendance in only five months? They have yet to make their attendance goals, nor are they on track to. They need more than double their reported attendance to be financially viable. Hence, why they are trying to commit fraudulent tax avoidance schemes to get out of paying what they owe the county.
It is not a typo, your reading comprehension is poor. The neighboring counties are not facing bankruptcy, because the neighboring counties did not finance the Ark Encounter. Meanwhile, the county that did is facing bankruptcy.
You should really just admit you meant to type "now" where you instead typed "not", Adam. I CAN be goaded by the proper type of insult catching me at the right moment in proper circumstances, mind you, but this one ain't it, not when I know that is your intent, when you've already been caught in error, and when anyone who cares can see what you typed on the previous page.
Creating jobs is a good thing, yes. But not if it's going to be short-term because the park has to declare bankruptcy and the following financial backlash that comes with that when the state/county/tax payers are left holding nothing but their dicks. Do you even economics? I don't think you even economics a little bit.
The man from the Forbes article I linked Surtur to explains why those tax fraud charges are a misrepresentation. For that matter, what Ark moneyship was arguing was that the 50 cent per ticket sold tax, amounting to between 500,000 and 700,000 dollars, was an UNFAIR tax to blindside the business with, let alone charge solely to a business when apparently not one resident in that town of 4,000 was paying anything.
For your first question?
Actually I DO believe, if the Ark had at least 600,000 by February, that it was able to attract 400,000 in the 5 months remaining. SamZED's comparison of the place to an amusement park was apt in more than 1 way. Previously we pointed out the ticket and parking prices are comparable, with the Ark prices being slightly cheaper. But there is good reason to suspect, as in the case of amusement parks, that the bulk of adult paying customers come in the warmer months, not the winter time. How much business did Cedar Point see in December 2016? How much did the Ark? I'd wager neither place did nearly the fiscal business they conducted in May 2017.
The other thing is, like Cedar Point and King's Island, the Ark does more business as advertising and customer awareness of the business's existence increases.
And something definitely happened between the time of February of this year and July 2017, if the time stamp of the following clip (March 2017) is any indication.
From many accounts, Bill Nye proved a better advertisement of the place than Matthew Lesko for government money:
Took Macroeconomics several years ago.
Learned that over 60% of our money supply doesn't even exist in a tangible form, that price serves as a means of discrimination regarded as acceptable by the bulk of the world's population, that it helps establish property rights without undue violence, and that it helps coordinate human labor.
Are you a teacher of economics? I'll listen to anyone who makes a good case.
However, what I'm seeing here is you ASSUMING that the Ark is underwater now and about to go out of business from the most casual of hearsay. I've yet to see any evidence that such is true.
You stated that "neighboring counties" do not see the tax incremental funding and sales tax rebates gifted to the Ark Encounter to the tune of nearly $100 million dollars as "wasted," and then proceeded to list anecdotes from businesses in neighboring counties that appear to support that.
And I pointed out that the neighboring counties did not foot the bill, so their benefitting from the Ark Encounter is totally irrelevant. The county that did fund the attraction is not seeing the promised return on its investment, so much so, that it is now facing bankruptcy.
Hence, the neighboring counties are not facing bankruptcy, but they did not foot the bill either.
The county must provide a sufficient number of police officers and firefighters per capita to ensure the safety of both residents and tourists. The very existence of the Ark Encounter, which promises a minimum of 1.4 million visitors to the county each year, is the sole reason the county has to increase its police force and fire department. So how is it unreasonable to charge the attraction a .50¢ safety fee on each ticket sold to offset the burden it is creating on essential county services? Why should the 4,000 county residents have to shoulder the cost of essential services for an additional 1.4 million people, so the attraction can pocket the profits?
Moreover, the Ark Encounter, which is a for-profit entity, attempted to sell the attraction to its non-profit ministry, Crosswater Canyon, for $10 to avoid paying the fee. How is that not tax evasion? The Ark Encounter only reversed its sale when the Kentucky Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet noted that the $18 million sales tax rebate would be immediately rescinded, because it is only for for-profit entities. How is that not fraud?
Of course. I'm curious to know just how much a person needs to investigate before they get actual useful lessons and information from a forum like this.
So in good faith I went on and Googled "Ken Ham ark county bankruptcy".
That returned the following hit, and I think I may have finally found the source you were using for your info:
About 600 people were expected for the first day of “Why the Bible is True.” It was an abnormally big crowd for a winter weekday at the seven-month-old Ark. But Ham said attendance had been higher than expected and travel agents told him to expect a busy spring and summer.
---------- Ham said the Ark hosted 500,000 visitors in the six months it was open in 2016. A staffer said about 645,000 guests have visited the 510-foot replica of Noah’s Ark. Ham called the Ark a success but its success has not had quite the ripple effect that many in Grant County expected.
“It’s been a great thing but it’s not brought us any money,” said Grant County Judge-Executive Steve Wood during a break from a budget meeting.
So we get a more complete assessment.
If you read the previous post, you know I was correct, at least according to the article -- those numbers ARE from February of this year, not May.
Again, I'd be interested in a link to your source; I largely believe you, I'm more interested in this point at what News agency would report 2-month old news like that as if it were current. Instructive either way.
The Ark Encounter was granted the $18 million sales tax rebate on the basis of projected first year attendance of 2.2 million visitors by America's Research Group, a consulting firm owned by conservative activist C. Britt Beemer, and personal friend of Ken Ham, owner of the Ark Encounter.
After the tax incentives were awarded, an independent analysis of the feasibility study found the attendance estimates grossly inflated, and the Ark Encounter published—on a now deleted page on its website—an adjusted projected first year attendance of 1.6 million visitors.
Then in September of last year, Ken Ham reported to WLWT TV a 30% drop in attendance since the attraction opened that July, with a new projected first year attendance of 1.4 million visitors.
This June, he reported to the Gospel Herald an even lower projected first year attendance of 1.1 million visitors, stating that higher estimates were for "normal years," and that first year attendance will be low, because it's "an abnormal year."
He did not give a reason why he thinks attendance will improve in subsequent years, when most attractions reach peak attendance when they first open and decline over time.
Even if we presume for the sake of argument they meet the new projected estimate of 1.1 million visitors in the first year, that is still 1 million fewer than they promised in order to receive the $18 million sales tax rebate from county taxpayers.
So the Ark apparently reached 1 million visitors a few months ago; your numbers are from February, as shown earlier.
The County you refer to is apparently Grant County.
You present their near-bankruptcy as a result of helping the Ark building, and, indeed, at least one reporter on a video clip I watched on the subject this evening did so, too.
However, most of the articles I've read tell me that Grant County was in decline to begin with, interestingly enough, blame is placed most on the mismanagement of their prison system and police force. I'm curious as to what kind of crime a community of only 4,000 people could possibly have, but, such is a topic for a little later.
In the meantime, I'm saving the following as a decent, fairly informative link on the subject:
KMC Community Forums
Sep 18th, 2017 11:11 PM
