SHIPSHEWANA — A committee tasked with the survival of Hostetler's Hudson Auto Museum had 30 days to accomplish that goal. And for the most part, they believe they’ve done that.
Shipshewana businesswoman Joanna King, who headed up the ad hoc committee, said plans are being finalized.
“We have a plan that we feel is sustainable and it is a plan that won’t make the taxpayers of Shipshewana responsible for an entity such as this,” she said.
As a matter of fact, King believes the plan is one that will make the town proud.
King did not want to go into the details of the plan Friday, but said she and the other committee members will be making a presentation to the Shipshewana Car Museum Inc. board at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the town office. The meeting is open to the public and local residents are invited to attend.
Board members Arlene Lazzaro and Eldon Hostetler Jr. said the innkeepers tax that the county tax board had rescinded after the building where the museum is housed was sold to Blue Gate Holdings, has been reinstated.
Lazzaro said she doesn’t expect much to happen Wednesday. She anticipates the committee will ask for a 90-day extension and she expects the board will grant that.
“I do want them to succeed,” Lazzaro said. “I want them to come up with a plan that will work with everybody. If they need more time, that’s wonderful.”
Hostetler, who goes by J.R., is the son of founder Eldon and Esta Hostetler. Both of his parents are deceased and he sits on the board — the same seat his stepmother held up until her death in May.
“It seems to be by all indications positive,” he said of the committee’s work. “It looks like a positive outcome for everybody concerned, I think.”
Hostetler said the committee, so far, has not found anyone in town who is opposed to keeping the museum open.
“That’s what the board was always worried about,” he said. “If all the residents are on board, I don’t see why (the board) wouldn’t be on board.”
As for the reason why the innkeepers tax was reinstated, Hostetler said it’s because there isn’t an actual sale yet. The Town Council sold the town center to Blue Gate Holdings for about $2.4 million. However, according to former Town Manager Mike Sutter in a previous statement to The Goshen News, the Town Council just refinanced the bond to get a better interest rate and has been using payments from Blue Gate Holdings to pay off the new bond. He said the amount remaining on the bond is about the same as the price paid by Blue Gate Holdings.
Sutter explained that about $150,000 in the county’s innkeeper’s tax from the adjacent Blue Gate Garden Inn was given annually to the town to help operate the Town Center. The agreement for such payments was created when the town center was constructed and the wording, according to Sutter, stated the payments would continue as long as the bonding for the building was being repaid.
Hostetler said that type of bond has to mature first and right now it is in escrow. As long as those bonds exist, the town can continue to receive the tax money.
The bonds will mature in 2023 or 2025, Hostetler said.
During that time, it is the goal of the board to develop a way to make the museum self-sustainable, he said.
Lazzaro is looking forward to Wednesday’s report and does not expect to have the heated discussion that marked the June 21 meeting. She would still like to hear from more community members on the matter, though.