The Grand Forks City Council voted 5-2 on Monday night to approve specific language in a proposed amendment to the city's home rule charter to add a 1 percent sales tax for a new public library that will be on a special election ballot May 3.
Although last week the council approved the general idea of a 1 percent sales tax beginning Oct. 1 for 30 months, Monday's vote added actual ballot language and six months to the period of collection to make sure enough money was raised.
The council is working from a recommendation by the volunteer library committee to spend $20.8 million on demolishing the current building and putting up a new, larger one at the same site, plus added property purchased near it.
But no mention of a location will be on the ballot measure in May. The council has taken no official action on the location of a new library.
Council members say that's on the advice of City Attorney Howard Swanson, who says it's best to leave such specifics out of any amendment to the home rule charter, which is, in effect, the city's constitution.
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If the measure passes by a simple majority of city voters on May 3, it would authorize, but not require, the council to enact such a sales tax with a new city ordinance. The council could limit the sales tax terms, but not increase them, with the necessary ordinance, Swanson said.
Council member Dana Sande initiated the lengthening of the time period for the sales tax, saying he was concerned that if the 1 percent tax didn't end up raising $20.8 million in 30 months, the city would have to make up the difference from other sources.
His motion to extend the end time of the sales tax from March 31, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2014, passed. The proposed ballot measure also stipulates that the sales tax would be ended earlier, as soon as the $20.8 million is collected.
Two motions by Council member Tyrone Grandstrand failed to find a second: to postpone the election for a year, and to start over with the site selection for a new library to allow more public input.
Grandstrand said "this is a 50-year decision," that requires more time for public debate, especially after the library committee changed its own recommendation late last year from the former Leevers grocery store site to the current library's location.
A year ago, the Twin Cities' consultant hired by the library committee had ruled out the current site as a good location for a new library, Grandstrand pointed out.
Susan Mickelson, head of the "Grand Forks Public Library Task Force for Revitalization," said last week that information learned late last year from city officials made it clear that traffic and growth issues at the former Leevers site made it too limited for a new library. Reviewing the potential of the current library's site led to the committee recommending it to the City Council, Mickelson said.
Grandstrand and council member Terry Bjerke on Monday voted against the proposed ballot measure. A week earlier, they also had voted against the more general idea of putting a new 1 percent sales tax for a new library to a public vote May 3.
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The language approved on Monday night for the May 3 ballot amendments to the home rule charter includes authorizing a "1 percent gross retail sales tax, the proceeds of which shall be dedicated to the design, acquisition, renovation, construction, improvement and furnishing of a public library, including related infrastructure, . . . beginning Oct. 1, 2011, and shall terminate on the 30th day of September 2014 or at such time as it is reasonably expected that the sum of $20.8 million in such sales tax proceeds will be remitted, whichever occurs first."
The normal exemptions to city sales taxes would be observed, and "the sale of house trailers, farm machinery or natural gas" would not be included and the tax would not exceed $68.75 on "any single purchase or sales transaction involving one or more items."
Other news
The Grand Forks City Council voted unanimously Monday night to draw up an agreement to link East Grand Forks to the city's sewage treatment plant. It's a money-saving deal for Grand Forks, which has excess capacity, and helps East Grand Forks, which needs to upgrade its own system.
More planning needs to be done, including getting permits from both states, before it is official.
