Tax-Exempt Review Committee - December 22, 2020 Minutes
TAX EXEMPT REVIEW COMMITTEE
Fargo, North Dakota
Regular Meeting Tuesday, December 22, 2020
The December meeting of the Tax Exempt Review Committee of the City of Fargo, North Dakota was held in the City Commission Room at City Hall at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 22, 2020.
The committee members present or absent are:
Present: Dave Piepkorn, Mayor Tim Mahoney, Jessica Ebeling, John Cosgriff, Kent Costin, Bruce Grubb, Jim Gilmour, Mike Splonskowski, Jackie Gapp
Absent: Jim Buus, Levi Bachmeier, Erik Johnson, Joe Raso
Commissioner Piepkorn called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
Minutes Approved
A motion was made by Mayor Tim Mahoney to approve the minutes from October 27, 202. Bruce Grubb seconded, motion carried.
New Industry Application by Midway Metals, LLC
Jim Gilmore stated that this is an application for a five year property tax exemption, it would be a start up in Fargo of an existing company that is looking at expanding. The first year they will have five jobs, three of the five are currently with the company and will be relocating to Fargo. By year three they will have nine jobs.
Ryan Aasheim explained that this is a gutter technology company that has several patents for a new better system for northern climates. Their big target markets are Minneapolis-St. Paul area and southern tier of Canada. Logistically they prefer Fargo over Minneapolis area because of advantages the community offers them. They will be doing some light manufacturing assembly at the South Fargo location. There is growth and expansion in their future plan. They work with companies such as ABC Seamless and Western Products which are retailer partners of theirs.
Dave Piepkorn asked Jim to talk a little bit about the charts on page 9 & 10. Jim explained that they are still in the process of updating the scoring criteria.
Eric Bachman of Midway Metals, via phone, stated that their market is the rain gutter industry of the United States and Canada. Fargo is an excellent location for multiple reasons, the workforce, the state economic and business climate, the highly educated North Dakota populace and North Dakota’s commitment to high skilled manufacturing, it is centrally located in the United States and they look forward to locating to Fargo. They currently ship nationally and intend to ship internationally. They would focus on bringing high skilled jobs to Fargo and are committed to staying long term.
Kent Costin asked why the calculation of the exemption isn’t listed on page 4, box 16. Jim stated that they could look up the value of the existing building, and at the time they were trying to get the application in, they did not have that information.
Mike stated given today’s mill levy it would be about $27,000 over the five year.
Dave Piepkorn stated that we seem to have a lot of numbers that are not precise in this application through no fault of the applicant and he thinks the numbers should be refined before it goes onto the City Commission.
Jessica Ebeling moved to defer the application until all documents are updated appropriately. Bruce Grubb seconded. Motion carried.
Dave Piepkorn adjourned the meeting at 1:20 pm.