The city council’s decision to pay $21,525 for a public survey on a local option sales tax has drawn some controversy, from both local citizens and state politicians

At the state level, members of the House Taxes Committee say that a public survey might help to convince some members, but it won’t be enough to convince the committee’s chair, Rep. Ron Abrams, R-Minnetonka, who has the power to put the option in a bill.

Rep. Irv Anderson, DFL-International Falls, said he feels a survey would get some committee members behind Albert Lea’s proposal.

“Certainly it would help,” Anderson said. “It would have a tremendous effect if they could say they had a consensus of people behind them.”

But Anderson concedes that Abrams would likely not put it on a bill.

“He doesn’t like the local option sales tax,” he said. “From that standpoint only, it is not a good use of money.”

Monday, the city council voted to hire Cincinnatus Inc. to conduct a survey to measure public opinion on a half percent local option sales tax, the profits of which would be used to dredge Albert Lea Lake.

The company would conduct a phone survey, meet with focus groups in the area, and then show the city the best ways for marketing the proposal to the public.

Rep. Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea, agreed with Anderson in saying Abrams would likely not support the sales tax.

“I think it’s probably a waste of money,” he said, referring to Abrams’ history with sales taxes.

Dorman said the issue isn’t Abrams not liking Albert Lea’s proposal, but rather his dislike for local option sales taxes in general.

“From his perspective, generally, the way that tax has been used, it pays for things that should be covered by a property tax,” he said. “The other thing he says, which I think is right, is that the system creates instant winners and losers.”

Currently, the state legislature makes all decisions on local option sales taxes for individual cities. Dorman says that so many cities have the tax now, that the state is thinking of going with other options, such as a uniform guideline for how cities qualify for it.

According to Becky Christenson, media relations director for the Department of Revenue, her department is currently examining such options. In September they will be holding three public meetings about the tax, one of which will be in Rochester.

Christenson did not say what options the department is leaning toward.

But the law, and Albert Lea aren’t to that point yet.

City Councilor Randy Erdman, who pushed for the sales tax two years ago before he gained his council seat, is hopeful that a survey will not only be key in presenting their proposal to the state, but also will act as a gauge for how the public would view the proposal.

“We’re going to the public and saying ‘do you want this or not?'” he said. “If their heart is not in it, we will forget about it and won’t proceed with it.”

Erdman and five other councilors voted to start the survey as soon as possible Monday.

Aside from Dorman saying he didn’t understand why they were using the money for the survey, the council also drew criticism from lake advocates Don Sorenson and Paul Overgaard.

Overgaard and Sorenson argued that the council should wait for a meeting between the city, county and watershed board so all would be able to build a consensus.

Erdman disagrees.

“I don’t know why they can’t continue on with what they are doing right now,” he said. “I don’t see why this is even controversial. I think what we are doing is a good thing.”

In many other Minnesota cities, surveys have been used to study marketing the project to both the public and the legislature.

New Ulm and Proctor both paid for public surveys, both were granted a sales tax from the state.

Last winter Bemidji went for a local option sales tax to help clean their city parks. Their city council did all the marketing, they had a referendum in November, and after the voters showed strong support, the city spent $20,000 on a facilitator to research and present their program to the state legislature.

Richard Lehmann, mayor of Bemidji, said he doesn’t regret hiring the facilitator. The man they hired, he said, helped to give a good presentation to the state. Their proposal passed through the senate, but, he said, it never was voted on in the house tax committee.

He said he feels hopeful that either the system will change, or that the house will pass their proposal in the near future.

He added that the tax will become more attractive to cities in the coming years.

“It’s something more communities are going to look at,” he said. “As government aid shrinks and our needs begin to grow, I think people are going to look at this option.”

Ron Abrams could not be reached for comment prior to press time.

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox @albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)