ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul voters Tuesday will decide whether they'll tax themselves more on purchases in exchange for investing $1 billion in roads, bridges, rec centers and park space across the next 20 years.
Supporters of Ballot Question 1 gathered on the Capital City’s East Side Friday to punctuate the need to play catchup on deferred maintenance of rec centers and rebuilding 24 major traffic arteries. The city has identified the arterial streets that would be in line for a complete reconstruction.
"We can make our streets safer, have our shared infrastructure be more climate-friendly and enjoyable for all who seek to work, play and live here," Vivian Ihekoronye of Faith in Minnesota told reporters while standing outside the Karibu Grocery and Deli on Payne Avenue.
The ballot spells out how the estimated revenue would be divvied up - $738,000 for streets and bridges, $246,000 for parks and recreation projects and associated bonding costs.
"We’re going to invest and grow and thrive so I don’t have to feel like I’m placing my family’s lives in other people’s hands just to bike them to school," Wes Burdine, the owner of the soccer bar known as Black Hart Saint Paul, remarked.
"A city where we can build an infrastructure of neighbors supporting neighbors just like they supported my business. I'm asking my friends, my neighbors, my community that we vote yes."
The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce is opposed to the ballot issue because the proposed one percent tax comes at the same time the legislature has adopted a 0.75% tax in the metro area to fund transit plus a 0.25% tax in the metro to raise money for housing vouchers.
If voters approve Ballot Question 1 Tuesday St. Paul will have a total sales tax rate of 9.875% in 2024, which would be the highest in the state.
"To have all of these small businesses carrying a 10% sales tax when people can easily drive to the suburbs, it just wasn't right," St. Paul City Council Member Jane Prince told KARE 11, explaining why she opposed putting the question to voters at this time.
She said she might have been fine with a lower sales tax hike, especially if it were dedicated strictly to fixing existing streets and facilities. But the resolution adopted by the council spelled out some of the money would be used to help finance new recreational facilities such as an athletic complex on the East Side.
Some of the money would potentially pay the city’s matching funds for big-ticket items such as the River Balcony project. Prince worried property taxpayers will eventually foot the bill for the ongoing costs of building projects paid for with sales tax dollars.
"It's one thing to build new capital projects but it takes property taxes to staff, operate and maintain them."
But city council member Mitra Jalali calls the ballot question an opportunity to make a critical investment in the future for local families.
"How do we get ahead of these challenges, not just endlessly reacting to them with less and less resources, and band-aiding these issues, but to really look at where we are as a community and say this is our chance to get ahead."
She pointed out that sales tax will also capture revenue from people visiting the capital city, so people from across the state who use St. Paul roads and parks will get a chance to help pay for them.
The sales tax as a tool is considered a regressive tax because people pay the same tax rate regardless of their family income, but Minnesota exempts many items from sales taxes including groceries, clothing, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter medicine.
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