Facilities Fund Request - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Facilities Fund Request

$3.7 million dollars in sales tax collected funds are on the line to be granted to four public facilities in Minot.
The Minot Community Development Committee will make a recommendation tomorrow for Minot City Council approval.
The $3.7 million was the result of the realigned sales tax --- 30 percent of one penny goes into the community foundation, also known as the facilities foundation.
Community Development Committee Chairman Dave Lehner says only four applications were received this year, and he says all four will be receiving at least part of their request.
The Dakota Territory Air Museum is requesting $500,000 to be used as matching funds for the building expansion, ramp and taxiway at the museum.
The Minot Park District requested $3.7 million for the purpose of flood recovery.
Lehner says the committee approved $1.7 million for the Park Board with an invitation to apply for additional funds next year.
The third application was from the Minot Recreation Commission for over $287,000 to build a new outdoor ice skating rink on the east side of Perkett Elementary School to replace the flooded ice skating rink at Longfellow Elementary School.
And the final application was from Minot State University requesting $1 million per year for four years for the completion of Phase three of the Herb Parker Stadium Project.
Lehner says the committee approved the initial $1 million for MSU and additional funds will be pro-rated pending funds in the coming years.
The fund was designed to assist in the construction of FACILITIES --- a physical structure used by the general public.

(Dave Lehner, Community Development Committee Chairman) "The intent of the tax was to go for sports funded facilities, however, at the time, they did use the examples that it had funded other things such as fire departments in the past, so it's not to say that that couldn't be that way in the future, but right now the intent of the committee is to have it go toward sports funded facilities."

Minot City Council will have the final vote on Monday.
If approved, the funds will be distributed in 2013.