Oakdale voters asked to approve sales tax for $37M in police, public works projects

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

Construction crews will break ground on a new $22 million public works facility in Oakdale next year.

City officials say that a $15 million expansion and renovation of the city’s police station also is imminent.

The question is, who’s going to pay for it?

Voters in Oakdale on Nov. 8 will be asked to approve a half-percent local sales tax to bankroll the improvements. Without a sales tax, officials say, the projects likely will be paid for by Oakdale property owners through property taxes.

The sales tax, which is expected to generate about $2 million annually, would be enough to cover payments on both projects, said City Administrator Christina Volkers.

State law requires the tax to automatically sunset once funds required for the projects are collected, or 25 years, whichever occurs first.

Voters will vote on two different questions on Nov. 8 – one for the public works facility and one for the police department expansion. The total sales tax, if approved by voters to finance one or both projects, will not exceed a half-percent, she said.

Plans call for the city’s public works department, currently located just north of Oakdale City Hall, to move to a new 53,000-square-foot facility at 32nd Street North and Granada Avenue North.

The police department will remain at its Oakdale City Hall location at Hadley Avenue North and 15th Street North, but the space will nearly quadruple to 57,000 square feet, including a garage.

Garage space for police

Garage space is key, said Police Chief Nick Newton, because there’s currently no indoor parking for the department’s 16 squad cars. Leaving the squad cars outside in the winter isn’t good for the computers that remain inside. “When it’s below zero, the technology doesn’t really work that well,” he said.

Officers use “big brooms and scrapers” to clear the squad cars when it snows, he said. “The expectation is that if you work nights, you have to clear everyone else’s cars off before you leave.”

When the police department moved into its current space in 1992, the department had only 19 officers. “Today, we’re still working out of the same building, and we have 35 officers,” he said. “We don’t have a break room, and we have 23 people sharing four computers.”

Space is so limited that evidence collected from crime scenes has to be kept in three separate spots around the city. That’s not efficient or safe, Newton says.

Officers also will soon start using body cameras, but the department doesn’t have room to store the necessary charging equipment. “Everything is stuffed in a small office,” he said. “It’s kind of a mess, but we get by.”

3M land for Public Works

Like the police department, the city’s public works department is housed in a building that is more than 40 years old, Volkers said.

The new public works facility will be built on 9 acres of land that the city received from 3M Corp. for $1.

“It’s a great location,” Volkers said. “It’s centrally located, and there’s easy access for our big vehicles. It’s going to be easy-in and easy-out, and there will be enough indoor storage for all our vehicles.”

There also will be room for sand and salt storage on site. And it will include space for a women’s locker room, which the current facility lacks, she said.

The new buildings also will be built to comply with ADA laws, she said.

Share the cost

Mayor Paul Reinke said paying for the infrastructure projects through a local option sales tax makes sense.

Stores like Hy-Vee, Cub Foods, Best Buy, Fleet Farm and Menards routinely attract customers from around the metro area, and implementing a sales tax would mean the cost of the projects would be shared with nonresidents, he said.

A study by the University of Minnesota Extension office, analyzing general state sales tax collected in Oakdale, showed that 50 percent of all sales tax in the city collected comes from nonresidents.

Under the proposed tax, a shopper spending $100 on taxable goods in Oakdale would see their bill increase 50 cents.

The current tax rate is 7.375 percent; if the sales-tax referendum questions pass, it would be 7.875 percent.

Construction on the new public works facility is expected to start in 2023 and finish in 2024-2025; construction on the police building would start late 2024 to early 2025. “This will set the stage for effective administration and services as we grow over the next decade,” Reinke said.

Volkers said she is optimistic that both referendum questions will pass.

“Our voters are becoming informed, and they understand the need and the alternative,” Volkers said. “The city council has determined that we must have these facilities, so the question is how do we pay for them? With the sales tax, 50 percent will be paid by nonresidents vs. 100 percent by residents on their property taxes.”

If approved, the new sales tax would go into effect April 1, Volkers said.

Walk with the Mayor

Oakdale Mayor Paul Reinke will host a “Walk with the Mayor” at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Oakdale Police Department, 1584 Hadley Ave. N., to discuss issues with the current police building and a proposed new local option sales tax.

Prior registration is not required; participants should wear comfortable walking shoes.

For more information, go to https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us

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