According to Bloomberg News, New York’s American Folk Art Museum, which has defaulted on $29.9 million of tax-exempt bonds, saw its deficit almost double from 2008 to 2009, according to its latest tax return.
The article states that the deficit increased to $7.23 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, up from $3.79 million in 2008. The return also shows that revenue from admissions at the nonprofit institution, whose collection includes folk art and works by self-taught artists, fell 13 percent to $306,054 in 2009.
The article alsoo states that, in July 2009, the 49-year-old museum stopped paying into a reserve fund for tax-exempt bonds issued by New York City’s Trust for Cultural Resources to finance construction of a new home next to the Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street. It became the first institution to default on its loan agreement with the city trust since its inception in 1980.