thank you to the more than 44,000 Woodbury residents who voted on our local option sales tax referendum on November 5th and thank you for the continued support of our public safety personnel services and the expansion of our Public Safety campus Woodbury residents approved the local option sales tax by a 24,165 26 vote providing important funding for the public safety campus project through your report the project can now be primarily funded through a0 5% sales tax that is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025 funds from the sales tax will be dedicated solely to the project and will end when the funding reaches $50 million or in 20 years whichever comes first we see the sales tax as a shared investment because residents and visitors alike will share in funding the services they use a University of Minnesota study indicates we can expect non-residents to contribute about 53% of the sales tax revenue collected items such as clothing groceries diapers and medications are exempt from the local sales tax it also does not apply to the sale of motorized vehicles such as cars motorcycles motor homes trucks tractors and vans the remaining Project funding will come from Grants along with a $13 annual increase in property taxes Public Safety which includes EMS fire and police continues to be a top priority for our growing Community we strive to provide excellent response times Community engagement in programs and continue to provide a safe and welcoming Woodburry for everyone the public safety campus will be able to build upon this commitment to our residents and Visitors by providing additional safer spaces for personnel and equipment and enhanced services with a funding source now in place we're excited to finish the design of the public safety campus have a competitive construction bid process and begin Construction in 2026 our goal is to open the new campus in the second quarter of 2028 the project will include the city acquiring the adjacent Washington County service center and reconstructing it for Public Safety purposes as well as upgrading the current public safety building Washington county is constructing a new service center near the Wood Lane Drive guer Drive intersection behind Kohl's and is relocating Services there in 25 look for more detailed information on the city website and in future editions of the Woodbury city update newsletter thank you again for your ongoing support of our First Responders I also want to take this opportunity to recognize retiring council member Andrea date who has served on the city council since 2017 I hope community members will join me in expressing our thanks for her service to our community and best wishes to her and I look forward to working with reelected council member Kim Wilson and newly elected council member Donna Stafford we'll have a lot on our plate next year and I'll tell you more about our 2025 priorities in the January newsletter