A bill to allow East Grand Forks to enact a local sales tax for Park and Rec projects has been heard by respective committees in both the House and Senate. The Minnesota Legislature needs to approve the request before the 1.25% tax “ask” can appear on the ballot.
Park and Rec Superintendent Reid Huttunen told city council members last night (Tuesday) that there hasn’t been any opposition to the request to date. He says one lawmaker did question whether changes are needed in state statutes because every project to receive funding has to be listed as a separate ballot question. “In our case there will be two line item questions that both say a 1.25% sales tax over a term of 20 years and a dollar amount. The concern from his perspective is a voter will look at the project and think we are asking for a 2.5% increase.”
The tax would raise $21.5 million dollars over 20 years. Huttenen says they’ve worked to trim the cost of work at the Civic Center…ballfields…and VFW Arena to around 29.7 million dollars. “Understand there are other ways we think we can work again as a community being able to bring this together whether it be donated labor or in-kind services.”
Voters could decide the sales tax question in November.
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