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State Support of Market Authority in Decline

Heath E Combs -- Furniture Today, June 2, 2011

HIGH POINT - For the past several years, North Carolina's state budget woes have taken a toll on publicly funded agencies including the High Point Market Authority.
     State support for the Market Authority peaked in 2007-08 at around $3 million. The appropriation had fallen to $2 million in 2010 and could decline another 15% this year, to about $1.7 million, according to the latest state budget proposal.
     Most of the rest of the Market Authority's funding - about $2.8 million a year - is from High Point showroom and hotel room taxes, a more stable source of funds. The agency's total expenses for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, were about $4.9 million, according to its IRS Form 990 for the year.
     Officials with the Market Authority declined to disclose the 2010-2011 budget, saying they would not release it because the year is not yet complete.
     Lawmakers in Raleigh, meanwhile, are debating the 2011-2012 state budget now and are expected to finalize it in early summer. Like other cash-strapped states, North Carolina faces a budget shortfall, reported to be $2.5 billion.
     Last year, the state appropriated about $806,479 in marketing funds to the Market Authority for 2010-11, down about 5% from the previous year. The latest proposed marketing appropriation for 2011- 2012 is $685,507, a 15% cut.
     The state also contributed about $1.2 million for market transportation in 2010. As currently proposed, that would drop by $200,000, or 16%, for the coming year.
     When the Market Authority was created in 2001, the state authorized the city of High Point to levy a special wholesale showroom privilege tax and a room occupancy tax to be used for furniture market promotion and visitor assistance. It is expected to contribute $2.8 million this year, according to the city's budget for 2010-11.
     Another state budget move that might affect the Market Authority and nine other nonprofit organizations in North Carolina is a proposed cap on the use of state funds to pay salaries of more than $120,000. Former Market Authority President Brian Casey, who resigned this April 30 to take another job, earned about $305,733 in 2009-2010. A search is under way for a successor.
     The Market Authority declined to disclose whether state funds were used to pay the president's salary.
     Before the Market Authority was created, many of the tasks it now handles were managed and paid for through efforts by the city, the local Chamber of Commerce through the Market Retention Committee, the Southern Furniture Exposition Building (now the International Home Furnishings Center), and the Furniture Factories Market Assn. of the South.

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N.C. to Contribute Less to High Point Market

Jul 9, 2011

North Carolina budget trims High Point Market funding

Jun 17, 2011

Authority Faces Future

Jun 1, 2011

Most funding continues for High Point Market

Jul 1, 2010

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