Thursday,  April 17, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 273 • 18 of 32

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• The Governor's Office of Economic Development estimates that Northern Beef would account for at least $3 million in sales and use taxes and contractors excise taxes paid to the state, based on filings made during the bankruptcy proceedings.
• Rounds added that he expects that the plant will eventually be processing cattle.
• "In essence, the taxpayers of South Dakota did not lose any taxpayer money on the bankruptcy of the Northern Beef plant," Rounds said. "And we still have the plant. It has been built, and it will be operational."
• Five Republicans, one Democrat and one independent are running for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tim Johnson.
• According to the South Dakota governor's office, the state Future Fund Grants included grants of:
• -- $67,600 to the Mentor Group in November 2010 for the appraisal of the plant required for the financing package;
• -- $150,000 to the Aberdeen Development Corporation in December 2010 to conduct an economic impact study and perform marketing services;
• -- $1 million to Northern Beef Packers in December 2010 to assist with construction costs;
• -- $200,000 to Brown County in December 2010 for costs associated with road construction;
• -- $300,000 to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture in January 2011 for the South Dakota Certified Beef Program.
• The plant also drew $582,000 from a January 2011 grant of $843,000 to train full-time employees.
• Two additional Future Fund Grants were given to the South Dakota Development Corp. to help Northern Beef, but one of them was fully repaid.
• One was a $1.2 million grant in June 2010 to provide a conditional loan to Northern Beef Packers for construction costs and employment recruiting. The other was a $2 million grant in December 2011 to assist the development corporation in providing a $3 million bridge loan to Northern Beef Packers for operating costs. That loan was paid in full in September 2012, the governor's office said.
• The failure of the plant to ramp up to full production shut off other potential public funding sources.
• A $5 million loan commitment from the state Board of Economic Development was canceled because it was contingent upon the completion of construction and certain financial and operational milestones. A $20 million loan commitment from the Economic Development Finance Authority, in which 60 percent would have been guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development's Business &

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