File photo The Marshall Aquatic Center still draws swimmers in the summer, but the pool and bath house facilities are also in serious need of updating.

MARSHALL — The city of Marshall will again be bringing a request to extend its 0.5% local option sales tax to the Minnesota Legislature. The move is the first step in a process that would bring the question to a public vote.

On Tuesday, Marshall City Council members approved a resolution to extend the sales tax.

“This resolution is required for consideration by the state, and there is a deadline of the end of this month,” said Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes.

The city has been seeking to extend the sales tax as a way to help pay to replace the Marshall Aquatic Center. However, the 2022 Minnesota legislative session adjourned without passing a tax bill that would have included Marshall’s proposal.

“Per the state statute, we need to start over again,” said Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the council discussed possible options for the aquatic center project, and the possible cost of the project, during a work session. One option that was brought up at the work session was an alternate location for the aquatic center near the corner of Saratoga Street and College Drive.

At this point no plans for an aquatic center have been finalized. However, landscape architect David Locke with Stockwell Engineers said the firm looked at other potential locations for a new aquatic center in addition to the current location at Legion Field Park.

The city has talked about the need to renovate or replace the current Aquatic Center over the past few years. The current pool has problems with deteriorating mechanical systems, and leaks 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of water a day during the summer. The existing bath house is also more than 50 years old and has code compliance and accessibility issues.

At the regular council meeting, Hanson said Marshall residents had voiced support for using the sales tax to help fund a new aquatic center. In a 2021 community survey, more than 70% of respondents said they would support a sales tax for parks and recreation amenities.

“So we feel that we have really good community support,” Hanson said. Using sales tax revenue for the aquatic center project would also have less of an impact on city property taxes. “If we were not going to utilize sales tax, the amount of general property tax levy would be between 17% and 20%, in terms of impact on the levy in one given year.”

Hanson said the local sales tax generates about $1.7 million in revenue a year.

“Another key point is that we are not increasing the sales tax rate. It would be extending the current rate, at a half-percent,” she said.

At a Tuesday afternoon work session on the aquatic center, council members heard about some of the concept work Stockwell did for the aquatic center project.

Locke said Stockwell used a 2019 study as a basis for gathering more input on what the community wanted in an aquatic center. Some of the pool types and features people showed the most interest in included a lazy river, diving area, splash pad, and zero-depth entry pool.

“As we looked at the initial concept, there were some concerns we had,” Locke said. “We were running out of space on the (current) site.”

Stockwell looked at three possible alternate sites for an aquatic center, and Locke said one that had a lot of opportunities was property at the corner of West College Drive and Saratoga Street near the Schwan’s Company office building. The space would have more room for aquatic center features, as well as good visibility and a central location in Marshall, he said.

If the city opted to pursue the alternate site, it would need to purchase the property from Schwan’s.