GRAND FORKS (AP) - Members of a city committee are recommending the single largest write-off in the history of the city's Growth Fund.

WebSmart, a Minot-based telemarketing company, abruptly folded in 2003 without repaying the $385,000 it borrowed from the city two years earlier. The total would be $447,000 today.

The city ultimately recovered about $700 from sale of the company's office equipment.

Growth Fund Committee Chairman Doug Christensen said this week that the city has no way to recover the debt.

"It's all gone cold," he said.

Previously, the largest Growth Fund write-off for any single company was $103,000 that PowerTek Industries borrowed from the fund in 1994. That would be about $143,000 in today's dollars.

The Growth Fund is a fund used by Grand Forks to encourage businesses to expand in town. Money comes from part of the city sales tax and as the federal government.

The write-off recommendation goes to the Grand Forks Jobs Development Authority on Monday.

WebSmart's owners said it closed because a major customer did not pay a bill of more than $1 million. WebSmart has offices in Minot, Grand Forks and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The state Labor Department had a judgment against the company for more than $200,000 in unpaid wages but no assets on which to collect.

The Growth Fund committee also recommended writing off loans of $42,000 that Cheyenne Valve and Machine of North Dakota borrowed in 1998 and $186,000 Vector Training Systems borrowed in 1999.

All the companies are bankrupt.