City of Enderlin and Community Development Committee

Complete Sales Tax Form

Investment Guidelines ~ Non-Housing

I. General Purpose

The overall investment guidelines of the Enderlin Community Development Committee (ECDC) is to invest local sales tax derived funds in projects that will ultimately result in an economic benefit to the Enderlin community. Although there is no required formula that the City must follow when it decides whether to extend funding to particular applicants, the following guidelines may be considered by the City acting through the Community Development Committee and City Council when reviewing applicants, but this is not an exclusive list of considerations.

• The number of jobs created or saved by implementation of a project or program;
• The quality of jobs created, in terms of salary, benefit levels and the expected length of time the job will be viable;
• Importation of new wealth into the city/community;
• The expansion of the tax base;
• The environmental impact;
• The use of regional material in the production process;
• The amount of primary sector money generated by the project;
• The owner's equity required to make the venture successful;
• The ability of management to successfully operate the business;
• The growth potential of the venture;
• The amount of third party participation in the venture;
• Providing new and desirable products/services to the city/community;
• Diversification of city/county economic base;

The ECDC investment decision will reflect the boards expected economic benefit of each project.

Powers of Enderlin to Approve Funding

The City of Enderlin acting through the City Council has the power to allocate the proceeds from the city sales and use taxes based on criteria enumerated in Article 1, Section 3(16) of the Home Rule Charter adopted by the City of Enderlin after a vote by the qualified electors of Enderlin; which criteria include:

• The proceeds will be devoted to projects and programs that meet the short-term and long-term needs of the city, beyond any existing and routine city services.
• The proceeds will be devoted to projects and programs that improve and enhance employment opportunities and community tax base--in other words, enhance the local economy.
• The proceeds will be devoted to projects and programs that encourage residency in the city.

However, the express inclusion of particular powers listed the Home Rule Charter shall not be deemed to be exclusive and the City of Enderlin has reserved for itself, in addition to those enumerated powers listed above, to have and exercise all powers which are allowable under the Constitution of North Dakota and the Constitution of the United States. Thus, the City of Enderlin acting through its Community Development Committee and City Council has wide discretion in deciding upon whether funding from the city sales and use tax fund will be apportioned to applicants.

II. Investment Vehicles

The ECDC may consider participating in proposed projects in a variety of ways. The rational for a particular method of participation will be tailored to each individual project, keeping in mind that emphasis be to create a revolving fund that will generate a return of assets for re-lending to new or expanding businesses and industries in the city/community.

Sales tax funds may be employed in any of the following ways:

• Loans, subordinated or unsubordinated
• Loan guarantees
• Lease and/or lease buy-back
• An equity position with another individual, partnership or corporate
• Grants
• Other, as deemed appropriate

VI. Application Process

The ECDC will develop application procedures and processes for administration of funds. It is important that the process be comprehensive enough to protect the community but streamlined enough to not discourage applicants from seeking assistance.

Applicants will be required to submit a proposal form (prescribed by the ECDC) briefly describing the project. The application will be made to the ECDC and forwarded to the Finance and Commerce Sub- Committee. Applicants whose proposals warrant further consideration will be asked to submit additional details, financial and personal data. The ECDC may contract for professional service to assist in their deliberations.

The Enderlin City Council will review, grant or deny final approval for all projects which are recommended by the ECDC. The ECDC has the authority to disapprove applications. The Enderlin City Council will be advised of ECDC disapprovals as part of their report to the council.

Project Tracking

The ECDC may gather appropriate data on all proposed, disapproved and funded projects. The ECDC may publish a report relating to funded projects or respond directly to the funded or disapproved projects. The report may included the number of primary and secondary jobs created or saved in each project; the economic impact of each project in terms of tax base expansion, payroll, cost per job and private sector dollars leveraged; and the community impact of the projects in terms of impact on municipal services, the social environment and the business environment.

The ECDC may discuss the current status of each approved project and each disapproved project from the previous calendar year and provide feedback to those approved or disapproved projects based on the evaluative data it collected relating to those projects.

Contact Information

If applicants have questions of concerns relating to these guidelines, they should contact the Enderlin Community Development Committee by leaving a message with the Enderlin City Auditor at 701- 437-3476 or write: ECDC, 411 Railway Street, Enderlin, ND 58027.

ECDC, generally, will only make grants to those projects in which other state, regional, county, private foundation or institution are also participating. Because the goal of ECDC is to create a long-term revolving fund, the board may also issue grants that later convert to loans should the projects become successful. Terms and conditions of the conversions to be worked out between ECDC and the project. These terms will be established prior to dispersment of any funds.

III. Optional Assistance

Other methods of assisting prospective businesses and use of sales tax funds to attract new business and industry to the City of Enderlin and our community may be:

• Temporary or permanent purchase of land or building(s) which would benefit the economic health of the city/community.
• Infrastructure improvements that directly relate to a particular project. On-going maintenance and repair of infrastructure is not considered proper use of sales tax derived funds.
• Feasibility studies
• Business plans
• Marketing plans
• Interest subsidies

IV. Eligible Applicants

• Individuals
• Corporations
• Partnerships
• Limited Liability Companies
• Cooperatives

V. Ineligible Applicants

• Generally, no sales tax funds will be used for establishing a commercial activity within the City of Enderlin when the services/products of the new venture will be of substantial detriment to an existing business. ECDC believes in healthy competition, but that it should not use sales tax derived funds to assist one like enterprise over another.
• Restructuring existing debt generally will not be considered.
• Generally, sales tax funds will be used to develop private enterprise. Non-profit organizations will be considered for these funds only under the most unusual circumstances, and only when it can be determined that the non-profit venture meets the general purpose for which the ECDC was established.
• Applicants must have a minimum of 10% equity in the project, whether an individual or business concern. Balance sheet equity will be considered. Generally, applicants who do not have adequate equity will be ineligible for sales tax funds.

Enderlin Community Development Committee
Funding Application and Guidelines
Approved by the Committee Board Members February 27, 2014

The Enderlin Community Development Committee, herein after Committee, uses this application as a tool for the betterment, beautification, business expansion or new business start-up, etcetera in the Enderlin Community.

 

Application for SALES TAX FUNDS

In order to be considered for SALES TAX FUNDS, you are required to answer the following questions and provide the information requested so need and eligibility for SALE TAX FUNDS can be determined by the COMMITTEE. If there is not enough room, please attach additional pages to this application. Attach business plan when submitting application. If there is no business plan in place attach completed documents titled "Quick Business Plan."

Please forward completed application to: Sara Dixson, 5010 133rd Ave SE, Enderlin ND 58027.

Applications must be received on or before the first day of each month to be considered in the current month's business. Following recommendation by the ECDC, this request will be forwarded to and discussed by the Enderlin City Council for final approval and disbursement of funds.

Use space below to outline request and use of sales tax funds

**Specify type of Equity (i.e. cash, equipment)

*The Enderlin Community Development Committee meets once a month; generally the third Thursday at 12Noon at the City Auditor's office.

**The Enderlin City Council meets once a month; the first Monday at 7 pm at the City Auditor's office.

A special meeting for one or both groups may be called if deemed possible or necessary, at the discretion of the Committee and/or City Council

Request for appearance: If the application does not result in a recommendation for approval by the City Council, the ECDC will return the proposal to the individuals concerned. The applicant may then request an appearance before the City Council within thirty (30)days of the notification that the proposal has been rejected. The Council may reconsider the proposal after the appearance, and may approve, deny, or approve the application after amendment.