Stearns Co, St. Joe and Waite Park get Legislative Approval for Local Option Sales Tax

(KNSI) – Lawmakers gave the thumbs up to Stearns County and two area cities to go to voters for local option sales taxes to pay for special projects.

Stearns County got approval to ask for a 0.375% sales tax to collect up to $325 million for a new jail and justice center. Planning for the project is currently underway and must go to the voters in the next two years.

St. Joseph wants voters to pass a 0.5% sales tax to collect $31.5 million for a new community center/YMCA, turn East Side Park into a 90-acre regional park, improve Mill Stream Park, and connect regional trails to downtown St. Joe.

Waite Park can ask its voters for a 0.5% sales tax for $31.5 million for community trail connections, street projects and funding for its public safety facility. The community approved a 0.5% sales tax in the fall for a new police and fire department.

St. Joe and Waite Park also have two years to put the measure on the ballot.

They are among the 36 tax requests approved by the legislature during conference committee negotiations over the omnibus tax bill at the end of the session.

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