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MAGIC Fund enters 2021 with cash cushion

Minot’s MAGIC Fund listed more than $10 million in assets at the end of 2020, although that includes some restricted funds and an outstanding loan that the city is in court to try to collect.

The Minot City Council received the report of the MAGIC Fund Screening Committee at its meeting Monday.

The $10 million in assets includes $750,000 committed to Souris Basin Planning Council for a business revolving loan fund and $24,341 remaining from $300,000 set aside for development of a communitywide branding strategy. It also included a $1 million overdue loan repayment from parking ramps developer Cypress Development.

The city terminated its agreement with Cypress in March 2018 after finding the developer in default on about $3.53 million, which included $1.75 million in loans, plus interest.

The screening committee met once in 2020 to consider an application from Minot Area Development Corp. for funds to purchase a Trinity Health building for a Center for Technical Education, a project of the National Disaster Resilience Program. A $800,000 grant was approved.

The report showed sales tax collections in 2020 brought nearly $1.55 million into the MAGIC Fund. Interest and other income brought total revenue to nearly $1.63 million.

A compliance audit conducted by Brady Martz & Associates found two loan recipients fell short of having loans completely forgiven.

SkySkopes employed 12 full-time employees as of July 1, 2020, or three fewer than required under the agreement for a forgivable loan. The company repaid just over $25,000 on July 1 due to the deficiency. SkySkopes was found in compliance with other aspects of the agreement associated with a $375,100 loan in 2017.

The compliance audit also found Kalix fell short of its minimum hour commitment in its recycling operation in 2020. It met just under half of its 30,000-hour commitment and repaid $6,417.60.

The MAGIC Fund had awarded a $126,000 grant and $126,000 forgivable loan in 2014 to buy a baler for Kalix’s recycling operation. Kalix repaid $3,615 last year due to falling short of hours in 2019, according to the last compliance audit. Kalix closed most of its recycling operation in February 2020.

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