DETROIT – There are treasures at the Detroit Institute of Arts envied around the world.
If the treasures start to get sold then the funding mechanism keeping the museum open and free to the tri-county area may vanish.
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"In our negotiations with the counties and the elected officials and others, perhaps the greatest concern was top make sure that money coming to the DIA from the counties could not find its way into the city, and I think any sort of raiding of the collection to get money to the city could reasonably be seen as a breach of the contract," said DIA Director Graham Beal.
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Beal is echoing what high-placed sources across the tri-county area have been telling Local 4.
"One of the county authorities is already drafting a resolution and I wouldn't be surprised if the other two counties followed suit," said Beal.
It's a resolution to stop giving the DIA the millage from a 2012 ballot initiative because of a breach of contract. The museum has found itself in the center of the bankruptcy storm with art aficionados world-wide weighing in on whether some of the art should be sold.
"It's one of the great collections in the country. It's something that Detroit can genuinely and without argument claim to be of world-class," said Beal.