Dino park ironing out financial matters

Field Station: Dinosaurs is working through financial issues that it has recently faced and is paying its bills, according to Executive Producer Guy Gsell of the recently opened attraction.

“All the vendors from Field Station: Dinosaurs’ build-out, including Dondlinger, have been paid in full,” Gsell said in an email to The Informer.

This fall, two liens were filed in Sedgwick County Court. Since the park is in a STAR bond district, it uses special financing vehicles, including a percentage of state sales tax revenue, for its development.

The park recently received an infusion of $700,000 from the district.

The money was designed to be used within the district and is not from taxpayers or a city source, but bondholders.

Those bonds have been sold.

They will be repaid with state and local sales taxes and hotel taxes collected within the district.

The money from the STAR bond proceeds was one of several requested changes by developers.

Because those changes would alter the original agreement, approval was needed by both the city and state.

The council learned about the request on Sept. 11 during a first reading. Following state approval, the council passed the changes on Oct. 9 after a second reading.

When asked in a September interview with The Informer about the park’s revenue or attendance figures, Gsell declined to release them.

As a private company, he’s not required to do so.