City Council Meeting Date: January 14, 2020
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Title
Update of Resolution for Request for Local Sales Tax Authorization from the State of Minnesota.
Body
Action Requested:
None.
Summary Report:
Staff is continuing to prepare background information to consider options related to a local options sales tax for parks and recreation purposes. The results of the parks and recreation survey is being developed. Additionally, staff is preparing more information related to the local sales tax option. A supplemental memo will be coming to further provide information and preparation for discussion at the meeting.
Background
The City Council had expressed interest to further pursue this option during the 2020 budget development process as a way to increase parks and recreation capital improvements. As we previously discussed, the new State law requires a detailed Council resolution to be approved by the end of January should we want to pursue the possibility of a special referendum question in November. Staff provided a short update on the topic at the January 7th meeting including information on the survey that has been mailed to residents. We have a longer discussion period programmed for our January 14th work session and leaving open an opportunity for Council to act at the end of January with the regular meeting on January 21st.
Over the past few weeks, staff has been diligently working with Fieldstone Research on the development and deployment of a resident survey (see final version attached) around their perceptions and opinions related to parks and recreation in Northfield. The purpose of the survey is to gather feedback as a resource for staff and the City Council to evaluate in the context of upcoming policy considerations for the Council related to the possibility of requesting Legislative authority to hold a referendum question to Northfield voters this November related to implementat...
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