Woodbury eyes sales tax to pay for expansion of public safety campus

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

Woodbury needs to expand its public safety facilities, and it’s hoping regional shoppers will help foot the bill.

City officials are seeking legislative approval to increase the local sales taxes to raise funds for the $50 million project.

The project includes a makeover of the city’s current Public Safety Building, which was built in 1975, and the purchase of the nearby Washington County Service Center, built in 1986, which would likely be demolished to make way for a new fire station.

Mayor Anne Burt said the process of potentially adding a 0.5 percent local sales tax to bankroll the improvements is in its beginning stages. Even if the Legislature approves Woodbury’s request, the Woodbury City Council still must sign off on authorizing a referendum, which could go before voters in November 2024.

“It’s just one more tool for our tool box,” Burt said. “It just gives us another option. We feel like we are the retail hub of the east metro — people come from the west, south, east and north to shop here, and it puts a strain on our public-safety resources.”

If approved, the sales tax, which is expected to generate about $2.5 million annually, would be enough to cover payments on the project, said Assistant City Administrator Angela Gorall. The earliest it would go into effect is April 1, 2025.

State law requires the tax to automatically sunset once funds required for the project are collected, or 20 years, whichever occurs first.

For Woodbury, the current sales tax rate is 7.375 percent; if the sales tax were to be authorized, it would be 7.875 percent. If the 0.5 percent sales tax is approved, a shopper spending $100 on taxable goods in Woodbury would see their bill increase 50 cents, Gorall said.

Chance to acquire county building

Plans call for the city to remodel and reconstruct its existing Public Safety Building on Radio Drive and acquire the Washington County Service Center building, located just south of the city’s Public Safety Building, Gorall said.

The Washington County Service Center, where driver’s licenses and passports are issued, will relocate to a new $30 million building that will be built at Valley Creek Road and Woodlane Drive, just east of Interstate 494 in Woodbury. The site is along the route of the Gold Line, a rapid-transit bus line connecting Woodbury and St. Paul.

The current service center was built as a county library in 1986 and remodeled to be a service center in 2003. The city has the right of first refusal to purchase the building, Burt said.

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Preliminary plans call for the fire department and EMS to move to a new building on the site of the current county service center, Burt said, which would improve access for fire trucks and ambulances.

Emergency vehicles currently leave the facility for emergency responses near one of Woodbury’s busiest intersections — Radio Drive at Valley Creek Road — which can be challenging and impact call response, she said.

“All of this is really preliminary,” Burt said. “We have to look at the whole piece and everything will have to be evaluated. (But) as a growing city, we need to be planning for the services that come with that additional growth.”

Growing police force

In 1975, the city constructed a City Hall on Radio Drive, which also housed the police department and the city’s second fire station. That building was remodeled and became solely the Public Safety Building in 1990 after a new Woodbury City Hall was constructed on Valley Creek Road. In 1996, police, fire and emergency medical services were combined into one department under the leadership of a public safety director. Subsequent building additions and improvements were made to the building in 2000 and 2010.

Public Safety Director Jason Posel said the department has outgrown the existing building. In 2010, when the building was last updated, Woodbury had 20,000 fewer residents, Posel said. “At that time, we had around 45 officers,” he said. “To serve our current population, that same building now houses 74 police officers and a growing EMS/fire and support services staff.”

The city expects to add another 20,000 residents by 2040, Posel said, and the city’s public safety department “will need to continue to grow to meet the needs of our community.”

The current building doesn’t have enough parking, office space or storage space; some conference rooms have been turned into offices, and some investigative vehicles have to be parked outside, he said.

“With growth comes growing pains,” Posel said. “We need to continue to grow with the community, and this is just part of the process.”

Legislative snag?

Financing the project through a city sales tax is an equitable method to reflect the benefits to the region surrounding Woodbury, which relies on the city’s ability to provide public safety services, Posel said.

The city is home to nine hotels and dozens of restaurants, shops and businesses that attract visitors from all over the metro area, Posel said. “We are a retail hub, and our numbers swell because of that,” he said. “The case we’re making is that we provide public-safety services to many people who don’t live here.”

Woodbury officials are waiting to see what happens in the Legislature with the sales-tax bill, which has been included in the Senate omnibus tax bill.

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The House, however, currently is not planning to include any sales tax bills in its omnibus tax bill.

“It is our understanding this likely won’t be resolved until May or later,” Gorall said. “We will continue to advocate for our sales tax bills as the appropriate funding source for our Public Safety Campus project.”

City officials say the needs of the Public Safety Department must be addressed and they don’t intend to delay the project even if the Legislature rejects the sales tax request.

“Should the sales tax not be available as an option, the city would explore other options for funding, pending future city council discussion and approval,” Gorall said.