Ballot question could come as early as Nov.

Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams is interested in renewing the half-cent local option sales tax to assist in the dredging of Fountain Lake.

‘We need a matching source of funds for the bonding dollars we received for the restoration of Fountain Lake,” Adams said.

The tax will also assist the Shell Rock River Watershed District in other projects.

Adams said the Albert Lea City Council is supportive of renewing the sales tax, but details need to be ironed out.

Some of the details include the language of the proposal the city will make to the state, the dollar amount and number of years of the request and when the sales tax election will be held.

Adams said the sales tax renewal could be on November’s election ballot, but the request could also go the Legislature in 2017 and be put on the ballot in late summer to fall 2017.

The city needs to complete three steps before the sales tax is renewed: approve the ballot’s language, hold a public vote on the measure and gain state approval.

Adams said the city could approve the ballot language this spring.

The sales tax was instituted by a referendum vote in November 2005 after the Legislature approved it.

The original local-option sales tax was extended for another five years in 2014.

When the tax was initially approved, it was slated to last 10 years or until it had collected $15 million.

The $15 million is expected to be reached late in 2017, and Adams said the plan is in preparation of meeting that threshold.

He said the sales tax has been a success.

“There’s been a lot of great work in the last 10 years for water quality efforts,” he said.

Adams specifically mentioned upstream and downstream management efforts, including the new dam on Albert Lea Lake and the cleanup of Pickerel Lake.

Shell Rock River Watershed District Administrator Brett Behnke said the district is excited for the sales tax to be renewed.

“We’re excited to continue with the project and with the sales tax in place,” Behnke said. “It puts us in a position to leverage outside dollars.”

Behnke said the citizens’ survey showed a majority of people supported the renewal of the sales tax.

Dredging will begin at the latest in 2017, and the timeline of the project will depend on how quickly permits are secured and other technical details are formed, he said.

The Shell Rock River Watershed District was formed by the state in 2003. It covers nearly 250 square miles in Freeborn County.