Cliff Buchan
News EditorAs they campaign for office in Forest Lake this fall, city council candidates are finding many in the public sector like the idea of a community center.
But many of those residents that candidates are meeting on their door-knocking rounds are also concerned with the amount of property taxes the regional community center could command.
That sentiment came across Wednesday, Sept. 29 during an informational meeting for candidates hosted by the community center task force. Five of the 14 candidates attended the full 90 minute session.
John ìTomî Lynch and Terry Smith, two of the five mayoral candidates, were on hand.
Council candidates at the session were Judy Bull, Greg Ochs and Eric Langness. Council candidate Bo Bogotty arrived for the final 30 minutes of the presentation.
Nine candidates in all have filed for the two open council seats.
Planners of the regional community continue to deal with financial issues in the wake of the loss of a potentially lucrative Kroc Center grant through the Salvation Army. The Forest Lake bid for funding as a Kroc Center facility was eliminated late last month.
That leaves task force volunteers with the job of finding other funds for the $22.5 million first phase cost. The center is proposed for city-owned land west of US-61 and south of N. 202nd St., south of Forest Lake Airport. A 160-acre community center has been set aside.
With the Kroc grant history, plans are again moving toward a spring 2005 bond referendum for city voters to raise $15 million of the first-phase cost.
Such a referendum if approved would cost a city homeowner with a property valued $250,000 an additional $239 in city taxes a year, according to city figures released last week.
A city business with market value of $500,000 would pay an additional $957 in property taxes.
City Administrator Chip Robinson said an operating deficit of $370,000 for a community center would require another $50 in
taxes a year for the $250,000 market value home.
Tax concerns
A concern for taxes was on the mind of the candidates at the Sept. 29 city hall session.
Candidate Bull said she was hearing support for the community center but said there is a need to spread the cost of the center or lower the bond amount.
ì240 may be prohibitive,î Bull said of the amount projected for the average-priced home in the city.
Mayoral candidate Smith said the cityís ability to sell adjacent land to housing developers would provide an infusion of welcome cash. But Smith cautioned that the land sale was ìa one-time bumpî that could never be repeated.
Lynch, the city councilman running for mayor, and Ochs both questioned the yearly subsidies that city would face in covering operation expenses based on revenue.
Lynch said heíd like to see the annual subsidy lowered; Ochs said he was concerned about the additional taxes beyond the bond debt that city residents would face.
ìThatís the challenge weíve got,î said Alan Bakke, task force co-chair and meeting leader last week.
Bakke said the task force and its 100-plus volunteers is committed to a fund-raising effort that will ultimately be successful in reducing the need to go out for a $15 million referendum.
He said the goal was see the $15 million total ìlowered as far as we can.î
He said plans for partnerships, such as staff sharing with ISD 831, could be one step to help reduce the operating subsidy. Bakke said additional growth and added taxable valuation in the years to come will also lower the annual bond debt payments per household as the tax is spread over a larger tax base in the city.
In opening the meeting, Bakke said the task force understood the tax concerns and how it may be viewed by citizens.
ìItís a hot issue item,î Bakke said. ìWe want you (candidates) to get the facts and figures.î
Plans advance
City Administrator Chip Robinson said last week that major progress is being made on the sale of 80-100 acres of land owned by the city adjacent to the 160-acre community center site.
The city has sought a request for proposals from developers and is now narrowing that list of firms interested in buying the site. By late November or early December he said the city hopes to have an agreement in place with a developer.
Robinson said a yet-to-be-determined amount of the land proceeds would be earmarked for community center construction along with retirement of the airport site bonds used by the former township to buy the site.
A major plus of the land sale is a requirement the developer take on site grading work for the entire community center site. That could amount to as much as $500,000 in value to the project, Robinson said.
Grading work could begin next spring.
ìThereís some real potential for something really special,î Robinson said.
This fall should also see more details on the cityís partnership with Washington County. The county has agreed to use the community center site as a location for its North Government Center annex.
The countyís plans include a new public library that will be attached to the community center, the government center housing county programs and court services and a transit center location. The county will purchase land for all its facilities with the exception of the library site. The latter will be provided by the city as its part of the new 25,000-square-foot facility that will cost more than $6 million to construct.
In its first phase, the community center has been scaled down but will offer swimming pools, gyms, a fitness center, a one-sheet ice arena, a kitchen area and meeting rooms. Outside the center, plans call for a number of athletic fields, walking and running trails and a picnic area.
Along with the bond issue proceeds and some of the proceeds from land sales, task force planners are banking on naming rights, park land dedication fees, small grants, donations and in-kind donations to help make the project go.
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