Company Managing Bemidji’s Sanford Center Projects $723,000 Loss for 2023

The company that manages Bemidji’s Sanford Center is projecting an operating loss of $723,000 for this year.

ASM Global officials presented that news to the Bemidji City Council Monday night. Their earlier projections were for only a $6,000 deficit for 2023.

ASM leadership attributes the large difference to inaccurate projections that management didn’t realize were off until the end-of-the-summer numbers came in.

“I’m disappointed, really, to stand before you and and kind of report these numbers that are coming,” said Leonard Bonacci, ASM Global Regional Vice President. “I want to be clear, though, on the financials, nothing illegal or anything like that. This is a competency issue at the local level. And we made decisions based on that information. Again, I feel it important to reiterate, ASM Global owns this problem. When I use the word ‘local,’ that does not mean outside of ASM Global – that’s us.”

Bemidji city councilors and Mayor Jorge Prince shared their concerns about the updated projected operating loss.

“I firmly believe that our leaving [former Sanford Center management company] VenuWorks was the right thing to do. I firmly believe that,” said City Council At-Large Audrey Thayer. “But to have ASM have this happen, it’s beyond me right now. I’m just so disappointed, disheartened. And our community involvement could wane very quickly. It’s this story again, and I don’t appreciate it. And I need to let you know that.

“I recognize that this is difficult for ASM, but you earned it,” said Prince. “So my empathy is pretty low because ultimately I represent the taxpayer and so, I want to start with the financial side of it. I had concerns going back to April when we weren’t hitting some of our numbers, and I brought that up to your management team. … And we kept being reassured, ‘We’re going to hit that number, we’re going to hit that number.’ … I relied on it.”

ASM is now projecting an operating loss of $350,000 for 2024, where their earlier projections showed a slight profit for 2024.

ASM officials also shared with councilors that Sanford Center general manager Sheila Murphy and financial director Genny Lowry have been let go. Bobby Anderson has been named interim general manager.