Ghost Town files financial statements with bankruptcy court
Ghost Town in the Sky owners paid themselves nearly $25,000 over two weeks in March despite the company being in bankruptcy.
The Maggie Valley amusement park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-March with the aim of reorganizing, opening the park and gradually paying off debts. Ghost Town has a $2.5 million trail of unpaid bills owed to more than 200 companies. Dozens of local businesses are among those owed money. The company also owes around $9.5 million in mortgages.
As part of the bankruptcy process, Ghost Town is required to file a detailed picture of their finances with the bankruptcy court every quarter, showing all revenue and expenses. The filing for the first quarter of this year only contained two weeks, from when Ghost Town filed bankruptcy in mid-March to the end of that same month.
The filings show nearly $25,000 was paid to Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver and a company that Shiver is president of, Global Management Services. Shiver personally got $1,657 as a salary, while $23,000 was paid to his company. Shiver’s company is billed as a professional services company and dates to Shiver’s former life in the Miami area.
While Ghost Town had launched a campaign to sell advance tickets to the theme park, sales netted only $1,659 for the reporting period, according to the filing.
So far a hunt for a cash infusion to help the park get on its feet has not been successful. Ghost Town has been unable to get traditional bank loans, or strike a deal with last-resort lenders. Appeals to the county economic development and tourism entities have not been fruitful either.
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Ghost Town has asked the town of Maggie Valley to provide a loan of $200,000. Town leaders are holding a public hearing on the issue at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14. The town began accepting written comments on the issue via email last week to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Shiver has rented out the Maggie Valley pavilion from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, for a public event presumably intended to rally support for the amusement park’s request. He is also going door to door soliciting public support.Shiver did not return calls seeking comment for this article.
