The Minot City Council voted 7-0 Monday to recover the taxes on The Tracks that would have been paid if there had been no TIF incentive approved in 2023.

A TIF is the difference on taxes owed post-construction versus pre-construction, with that difference invested into the project through bond payments. The TIF program for The Tracks was meant to help finance public-related improvements, including a public plaza with an ice skating rink, concert venue and other amenities.

“Because they haven’t moved forward with the construction of the public improvements, they aren’t entitled to the tax advantages,” said David Lakefield, the city’s finance director. “They’ve indicated that they don’t intend to move forward with construction of any of the other buildings and presumably the public improvement.”

The project was to include seven multi-use buildings. Ground was broken in the fall of 2022 on the first building, a residential/commercial structure called the Maverick. The city seeks to collect the taxes on improvements made with the construction of the Maverick building but set aside for public amenities.

Mike Blessum

Lakefield said failure to pay the taxes would place the property in tax delinquency and at risk of eventual foreclosure by the county.

Council member Mike Blessum noted the city is not trying to recover spent funds.

“It’s an abatement,” he said. “We’re trying to recoup what the property tax should have been because they failed on the agreement.”

In other business, the council approved a request from Police Chief Michael Frye to add five vehicles to the patrol fleet. In a memo, he told the council the department has 21 marked patrol cars and was budgeted to replace five in 2025. Instead, Frye said, his intent is to assign the five new vehicles to five SWAT members and retain existing patrol vehicles. Frye said he has prioritized and assigned two take-home vehicles for SWAT leadership to respond directly and more quickly to critical incidents when necessary.

The police department also requested a replacement for a patrol vehicle appraised as a total loss following a Sept. 20 crash. The council voted to approve the purchase of a $47,394 SUV from Nelson Auto, using general fund reserves. A $28,836 insurance payment has been pending.

Jill Schramm/MDN The Maverick building, one of the buildings proposed for construction as part of The Tracks project, is shown in southwest Minot Nov. 11.

The council unanimously approved the requests, although members indicated a desire to see these types of expenses come from reallocations within a requesting department’s existing budget rather than general fund reserves in the future.

The council also approved:

– a settlement agreement with Liberty Sierra Vista in an eminent domain case on easements associated with the Puppy Dog Stormwater project. The agreement requires the city to provide $130,000 for the property acquisition and other costs and install signage directing traffic to Revel Hotel during construction.

– amendments related to engineering services for the 16th Street Southwest interchange rehabilitation project. Originally slated for construction in 2025, the project has been pushed back to 2027 to fit into the state’s federal funding program. The multi-year project involves a bridge deck overlay, replacement of approach slabs, three new traffic signals, a correction of offset left turn lanes and concrete panel replacement.

– plans for the low head dam remediation project on the Little Roosevelt dam in southeast Minot. Low head dams were added with the creation of dead loops to the Souris River in the 1970s and 1980s to allow water to flow through the loops when gates are opened. The dams can create human safety risks due to currents that have a roller effect. Construction is estimated at $900,000, of which 75% is state funded, with the remaining $225,000 coming from the portion of the city’s sales tax allocated to infrastructure.