St. Cloud Lawmaker Pushes for $100 Million Downtown Revitalization Plan Amidst Legislative Session

(KNSI) – Funding public projects, affordable housing and getting more police on the streets are the top issues for St. Cloud lawmakers as the 2024 Minnesota Legislature gavels back into session on Monday.

An $830 million bonding bill for local projects of regional importance is on the table this time around. The money can go to upgrade public facilities, universities, roads, or redevelopment. St. Cloud is requesting $100 million to be phased in over five years to remake the heart of the city.

KNSI News caught up with District 14B Representative Dan Wolgamott who says his mission this session is to bring home the bacon. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to get as much money into downtown St. Cloud to make it more walkable, make it more livable, make it more safe. This is a really, really exciting project that is going to benefit our local economy.”

Wolgamott believes the funds could spark up to a billion dollars of private investment in downtown and would ensure St Cloud can thrive for generations to come. He also hopes to secure state funding for the future University of Minnesota-CentraCare St. Cloud medical school and to make improvements to the outdated refrigeration system at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Wolgamott also wants more people to own a home of their own. He explained what caused the crisis. “At the root of this problem is a housing shortage; decades of underinvestment and over-burdensome regulations have left our state with a gap of more than 100,000 homes that we need to build.”

He stated lawmakers would work with the Central Minnesota Builders Association and other coalitions to find solutions.

Public safety and keeping cops on the streets is also high on Wolgamott’s priority list. According to him, around 1900 police officers will hit the retirement age and leave the workforce in the next few years. Wolgamott says he will use his position on the pensions commission to put forward a bill that would allow police officers to continue to stay and get paid more once they reach retirement age. “They would be able to both take their salary for their job but also draw on their pensions with no penalties to taking that. So, they can kind of get the best of both worlds and receive that compensation that will make it worth their while to stick around.”

Wolgamott says there shouldn’t be any need to raise taxes for any reason after passing last year’s budget. He says everything should be accounted for already.

Last week, Democrat Senator Ann Rest of New Hope said she would kill any proposed tax increases after Minnesota spent a $17.5 billion surplus last year and raised taxes by another $10 billion. Rest is in charge of the Senate tax committee.

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