St. Cloud Lobbying for Permission to Add Half-Cent Sales Tax

ST. CLOUD -- The city of St. Cloud will be asking the legislature for authority to collect an additional half-cent sales to help pay for the Municipal Athletic Complex renovations and four street construction projects.

If approved, St. Cloud residents will then vote the measure up or down in the November election.

City Administrator Matt Staehling says to be clear, this request is an increase to the existing sales tax, not an extension...

It would be a one-cent sales tax in total.  Half of it would be allocated under the old law which is regional, the six cities including St. Cloud, and allocated for regional projects. The difference in the new law is that we had to pick five specific projects and justify their regional significance. So, that's what we've done.

The projects identified for that additional half-cent include Stearns County Road 136 from Cooper Avenue to 25th Avenue North, 3rd Street North from Highway 15 to downtown St. Cloud, Lincoln Avenue, and 16th Street South from near the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center across Clearwater Road and connecting to County Road 75.

The sales tax would also help pay for renovations to the Municipal Athletic Complex.

Once the projects are paid for, the tax would sunset.

St. Cloud voters need to approve both the tax and the identified projects even if the legislature grants approval.