A divided St. Paul City Council will ask the mayor’s office to hire a lobbyist to talk to state lawmakers about a possible 1 percent citywide sales tax to fund items such as road repair, public transit, pre-kindergarten programs and affordable housing.

Following a protracted discussion Wednesday, the council voted 4-3 to support a resolution sponsored by the four-member majority. One of them, Council Member Rebecca Noecker, acknowledged that months if not years of planning and advocacy remain before a new sales tax might become reality.

The close vote underscored fears that a sales tax pitch to fund four major priorities will fail to sway state lawmakers who amended statute last year to limit such requests to road repair and capital improvement projects of regional significance.

A new tax could generate $36 million annually in present-year numbers alone, Noecker said, taking pressure for badly needed public services off property taxes.

“It’s an opportunity to address some structural needs that we have, and some very basic human ones,” Noecker said. “Our streets are literally falling apart in front of our eyes … and on the human side, we have thousands of residents who are either surviving outside … or who cannot afford to live here.”

The added costs, Noecker said, would be shared by millions of annual visitors to St. Paul.

“It wouldn’t just be us paying those pennies … unlike a property tax,” Noecker said. “This resolution does not commit us to a sales tax. It does not impose a sales tax. It does not introduce a bill.”

Council Member Chris Tolbert, an attorney who previously worked at the state Legislature, said he was sympathetic to those arguments. But he noted state lawmakers last year amended state statutes to specifically restrict new sales taxes to capital investment projects of regional benefit, including road repair.

“It’s not necessarily the correct issues … from a realistic perspective of actually passing this at the Capitol,” Tolbert said. “Some of the issues that we want to explore, just on a basic reading, don’t necessarily qualify for that. … (Lawmakers) would also be required to change the statute that they amended last year.”

Noecker’s resolution was supported by Council Members Jane Prince, Dai Thao and Nelsie Yang and opposed by Tolbert, Council President Amy Brendmoen and Mitra Jalali.

Speaking in favor of the proposal, Thao noted that “27 to 30 percent of the property in St. Paul doesn’t pay property taxes. The state campus is one of those. … It puts a lot of burden on the property owners in our community. … I think it’s unfair.”

In light of likely opposition from state lawmakers, Jalali called the resolution premature without further study.

“There are downsides in terms of moving forward with a legislative consultant, arguments we may not be ready to make,” she said.

In a written statement, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter took no clear side on the question of whether the council’s priorities are too wide-ranging to survive the Legislature. Carter, however, has previously shown openness to exploring new ways to fund city services.

“Engaging in a robust conversation with our community about what a sales tax proposal for St. Paul might look like is vital,” the mayor said. “We appreciate the council’s encouragement, and look forward to continuing this important work.”

The proposed 1 percent tax would be added to the city’s existing 7.875 percent state and local tax, for a total sales tax of 8.875 percent.

Critics have pointed out that amounts to a 12.7 percent increase in sales taxes.