Forest Lake is edging toward a big-money ask at the ballot box this fall: a half-percent local sales tax to help fund a new public-works campus that city staff say will run into the tens of millions of dollars. City leaders have already told their architect to shrink the project to hit a more affordable range, and they argue a sales tax would pull in cash from shoppers and commuters who do not actually live in town. The whole plan, though, hinges on whether lawmakers sign off on special language at the Capitol first.
City asks architect to scale cost
At a recent workshop, the City Council directed Wold Architects to return with a schematic design in the $35 million to $40 million range after earlier estimates came in higher. Staff materials walk through several ways to pay for it, from a local sales tax to shaped or level debt and utility funds. According to Forest Lake city staff, the goal is to keep the project financially realistic while leaning less on property taxes.
Lawmakers must sign off
Forest Lake cannot put a local-option sales tax question on the ballot without a green light from the Legislature. Lawmakers have tucked city-specific language into a broader package of local tax bills now moving through the Capitol. The engrossed bill text that includes the Forest Lake language lays out what the money can be used for, how much the city can bond, and when the tax has to end.
As detailed in the latest version of SF5052, the city needs that special-law authority before it can even ask voters to approve the tax.
What it would cost and who pays
The city’s own financial summary projects that a 0.5 percent local sales tax would generate about $2.07 million per year. Roughly 53 percent of that haul is expected to come from non-residents who shop in or travel through Forest Lake, with the average resident burden estimated at around $45 annually, according to the city’s public FAQ on the proposal. Not exactly pocket change, but city officials say it beats putting the full cost on the property-tax roll.
Forest Lake’s current combined sales tax sits at about 8.375 percent and would climb to roughly 8.875 percent if voters approve the new tax, based on state and local rate tables from Sales Tax Handbook.
Timeline and the site
City staff say they expect the Legislature to act on the sales-tax request in the spring. If lawmakers give the go-ahead, the council plans to ask voters this November to approve the tax. Planning documents and the architect’s schedule sketch out an aggressive timeline in which site work and bonding would follow within a couple of years, with construction targeted for 2028 and completion and move-in sometime in the 2028 to 2029 window, depending on how approvals and financing shake out.
The early push from the council and the timing of the potential referendum were first reported by the Pioneer Press.
Legal and ballot mechanics
State law requires legislative authorization before any city can take a local sales tax question to its voters, and it spells out the rules for what can appear on the ballot, what the money can be spent on, and how long the tax can stay in place. The revisor’s statute on local sales taxes also requires voter approval and typically caps the life of a tax, with most special laws including an automatic sunset once project costs are covered or after a set period such as 20 years. The framework is laid out in Minn. Stat. §297A.99.
For now, Forest Lake’s effort is a juggling act of design work and political timing. Staff are sharpening the cost estimates and funding scenarios while lawmakers weigh the authorizing language, and council members are preparing to explain the trade-offs among property taxes, utility funds, and a potential voter-approved sales tax. If both the Legislature and the voters sign on, city leaders say the sales tax would let them build a larger, safer and more modern public-works campus while easing near-term pressure on the property-tax levy.
