voters will be going to the polls on Tuesday November 5th to make choices on several candidates for various offices on your ballot this year you will also notice a referendum question about funding the city's upcoming Public Safety campus Expansion Project we've been discussing this project since its inclusion in our five-year Capital Improvement plan and have been busy sharing information about the project and funding options in many ways since last spring the city is planning to expand the ex existing facility located at 2100 Radio Drive the expansion and remodeling of the public safety building is needed to accommodate our growing community and increasing demands on our staff programs and Emergency Services the current facility is overcrowded and not adequate for emergency vehicle response the project will include the city acquiring the adjacent Washington County service center and reconstructing it for Public Safety purposes and upgrading the current public safety building Washington county is constructing a new service center near the Wood Lane guer Drive intersection behind Kohl's and is relocating Services there in 2025 this is perfect timing to create an integrated Public Safety campus to finance the public safety campus project a local option sales tax referendum of0 5% will be presented on the November 5th general election ballot the 5% sales tax would equate to a nickel for every $10 spent you might be wondering why the referendum is focused on the financing option and not on whether to do the project at all Woodbury has the responsibility to plan for the future development of the city and the responsibility to take the necessary steps to implement that plan to do this woodbear utilizes a capital Improvement plan to guide and prioritize our city projects best practices for governmental budgeting allow flexibility for the city to evaluate and fund Capital Improvement projects through various Financial strategies without requiring voter approval for each one plane and Horizons are typically 5 to 10 years so future projects have ample opportunity for studies engagement and other Milestones to ensure success Woodbury values an open and transparent planning process and gathers Community feedback through public meetings open houses citizen committees and other means to assist with infrastructure and facility planning in this case the city sought State Legislative approval to propose a sales tax option to voters enabling the opportunity to vote for a shared investment between residents and visitors this option would alleviate the need to fund the project through property taxes alone the city sees the sales tax as a shared investment because residents and visitors alike will share in funding the services they use according to a University of Minnesota study non-residents May contribute about 53% of the sales tax revenue collected when we first started pursuing permission from the legislature to ask voters about enacting a local sales tax we anticipated $50 million would cover the entire cost of the project however with inflation and construction costs Rising the project is now estimated to cost $60 million if voters pass the referendum in November the sales tax will pay for the majority of the project the remaining Project funding will come from Grants along with a $13 annual increase in property tax taxes if the referendum does not pass the majority of the project will be paid through a property tax increase if approved the sales tax would go into effect in April 2025 and expire in 20 years or when the project funds are collected projections indicate that the city could collect $50 million in 13 years 7 years less than the 20 years needed to collect it through property taxes alone the decision to approve or deny the local option sales tax referendum rest with you the residents of Woodbury you can get more information about the referendum and the project on the city's website