Golden Valley Leaders Lay Out Next Steps Since Passage of Sales Tax Referendum
City of Golden Valley leaders have years of work ahead of them after voters passed a sales tax referendum that is intended to fund new public works and public safety facilities. They say that once the sales tax–the first of its kind in the city–is installed by state revenue officials, it will raise more than $100 million in revenue.
“For the most part, we recognize what we need to do, (and) what steps we need to take,” said Community Development Director Alma Flores.
Part of the expected $105 million in sales tax revenue will help pay for a new public works facility in Golden Valley.
Flores said the city has preliminary begun trying to identify possible plots of land that would be available and potentially viable options to relocate the public works facility, which is currently adjacent to city hall and the public safety facility.
“The city is landlocked. We don’t suddenly grow at the edges to accommodate this,” Flores said. “We have to look from within and see what’s possibly residual land or land that’s under-utilized, or land that’s on the market.”
The 1.25% sales tax should be enough over several years to generate the $15 million needed for site design, plus the $45 million apiece for development and construction of new facilities, among other costs.
“I urge the public to be patient. Real estate work such as this takes time,” said Flores. “Even when you set up the project itself, real estate development can take anywhere from two to four years before a building can be seen.”
The city continues to update the informational website it started when the campaign to pass the referendum began.
“We did receive questions that we then moved into the frequently asked questions section on that website,” said Flores. “Then when it did pass, we did receive additional and have been populating the FAQ. The questions of today really around what’s next: ‘What’s happening next?’ ‘What steps are you taking?’”
Golden Valley City Council is expected to formally pass the sales tax at its next meeting, and it will be passed along to the state revenue department from there.
