Wichita ? The Mid-America All-Indian Center will close for two months while the city of Wichita tries to resolve the museum’s ongoing financial woes.

The center, which provides social services and cultural programs and houses a museum of Indian artifacts, has no money to pay bills or wages and is now being managed by the city. The center’s debt is estimated at $150,000, but the exact amount is unknown.

It will close today, and its 11 employees have been laid off.

The news disappointed the center’s supporters.

“That museum means everything to us,” said Betty Nixon, a charter member and a founder of the Mid-America All-Indian Center Inc. “We dedicated ourselves to getting the museum and to see it continued with the best of care we can get. But they’ve let it go.”

Particularly troubling, one former official said, was how quickly the center accrued debt.

“How they ran up $150,000 in one year is just unbelievable,” Sonie Simon said. “It’s very disappointing.”

Simon and her brother, Kalvin, served as co-executive directors on an interim basis in 2003. Over a five-month span, she said, they were able to reduce the center’s debt from about $40,000 to $5,000.

“We worked hard, but we did nothing compared with what the early people did,” Sonie Simon said. “They gave money they didn’t have a lot of. They had a really good vision. They put together a really wonderful program.”

John D’Angelo, director of the city’s division of arts and cultural services, said the owners of artifacts that have been loaned to the museum might take them back but must prove ownership. The city will ask experts for help in taking care of the remaining artifacts.

“Some things, in respect to the tribes’ spiritual beliefs, are not supposed to be handled,” D’Angelo said. “We understand the significance of the artistic, archival, historical and spiritual aspects of this collection.”

The city will continue to work with the center’s board to resolve financial issues, D’Angelo said. But some people, including Nixon, said the board was to blame for the center’s problems.

“I hate to see them go ahead and continue with this because they have shown us they don’t know what to do with it,” Nixon said.

The city pays $57,900 a year for utilities and has budgeted $180,170 for maintenance and upkeep. So far, D’Angelo said, no additional money has been committed.

“In 60 days, we’re hoping to have an understanding of where are we and where we need to be going,” he said. “We know we’re not going to have everything fixed.”