Cash-strapped because of debt to redo South Robert Street, West St. Paul will ask its voters to approve a half-cent sales tax that would generate an estimated $1.3 million annually for funding future road projects over the next 20 years.

The city council last week unanimously approved putting the question on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

If voters approve the tax, it would then have to be authorized by legislators during the next session and sent back to the city council to adopt. The earliest it could go into effect is Oct. 1, 2019.

The council’s decision to pursue a local sales tax comes after several years of failed attempts by city and state elected officials to get additional state funding for rebuilding Robert Street into a four-lane road with a center median. They say the city is paying a disproportionate amount of the $46 million project, which was completed last year and meant to improve the look, functionality and safety of the retail-heavy state highway.

West St. Paul taxpayers are on the hook for $21.4 million in debt for the redo, which was the city’s largest public works project in both scope and cost. After principal and interest, the city’s price tag is expected to swell to $27.5 million by the time the bond is paid off in 2034.

City Manager Ryan Schroeder said that because of that debt the city will not have the money to make necessary improvements to local streets in upcoming years. The city needs another source of revenue other than increasing property taxes, he said.

“(Sales tax revenue) actually won’t go toward Robert Street at all — none of it will,” he said. “But because of Robert Street, we have this cash situation where it’s difficult to pay for street projects. And this will solve that problem.”

City Council member Dave Napier said a local sales tax is a creative way to “spread the burden” of Robert Street to nonresidents who use the 2.5-mile stretch of road.

“Do I want to hit our local residents with a half-a-cent sales tax? No. But I do think it was a way to really show the state that we’re trying to get creative because you didn’t come through on your state highway?” he added. “We’ve already proven that the corridor is safer.”

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Seasonal disease kills 4 reindeer at Minnesota Zoo, sickens 4 others Schroeder said $295 million in taxable sales was generated in West St. Paul in 2016 and that the state Department of Revenue projects $1.3 million in revenue would be raised annually in the proposed taxing district. Under the tax, when consumers spend $100 on taxable goods, for instance, their bill would increase 50 cents.

Schroeder said it is hard to say how much of the projected revenue would be generated by nonresidents, but he estimated the number to be 30 percent.

According to data provided to the city council in April, there are 31 local sales taxes in Minnesota, nearly all a half-cent and located outstate. In the metro area, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Hennepin County have a local sales tax. If approved in West St. Paul, it would be a first within Dakota County.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the taxable sales generated from within West St. Paul in 2016 were $295 million.