The Giants Ridge resort is such a big part of the state agency leading economic development on the Iron Range that the resort received its own chapter in a highly critical Office of the Legislative Auditor report that came out last week.
The OLA staff did such a thorough job on the topic that there's only really one big, unanswered question left: Why is Giants Ridge still open?
This ski and golf resort lies near the northeastern end of the state's Iron Range in St. Louis County, and it's lately been a consistent money loser. If businesspeople ran this operation, it likely would have been sold by now if not shut down.
The agency that owns it, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, has defended Giants Ridge in the past as both an economic engine and a recreational amenity in the heart of the IRRRB's service territory.
The IRRRB's history with Giants Ridge began in the mid-1980s, when Giants Ridge had gone bankrupt during a brutal mining industry downturn. The agency then bought the resort.
It was just a modest investment, but the agency bought new ski equipment, built a new chalet and an 18-hole golf course and then another golf course. Most recently the IRRRB decided to invest an additional $9.9 million in a new event center.
Having a state agency direct tax revenue wrung from the mining industry into a golf course is by itself a decision worth some debate. But the legislative auditor gives far more space in its report to discussing the decision to fund operating losses that have kept growing, including a $4.3 million operating loss for fiscal 2014.
From 2006 through 2014, as a chart in the auditor's report shows, expenses have generally been inching up while the revenue line has generally gone the other way.