MARSHALL — Marshall voters passed a local sales tax extension earlier this month, but the proposal didn’t take effect right away. On Tuesday, the Marshall City Council took action on the next couple of official steps needed to implement the sales tax extension.

“We are required, following the approval of the referendum on Nov. 7, to follow certain steps” required by the state, said Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson. One of those steps was to submit the referendum question and results to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

“We are proposing to have the council adopt this in resolution form,” Hanson said. “If adopted tonight, it will be submitted to the Department of Revenue.”

Council members voted to approve a resolution accepting the results of the Nov. 7 election.

In a separate motion, the council also voted to amend existing city ordinances to extend the amount of time Marshall’s half-percent local sales tax is in effect.

“This was introduced at the Nov. 14 (council) meeting,” Hanson said of the ordinance amendment. Because the city wasn’t introducing a new sales tax, they were proposing to amend the current sales tax ordinance instead of writing a new one, she said. “Like the election results, if this is approved we will submit this to the Department of Revenue.”

Under the amendment, the local sales tax will stay in effect in order to generate up to $18.37 million in funding for project and bonding costs of a new aquatic center in Marshall. The tax will expire either after 35 years, or when the city council determines sufficient revenue has been collected for the aquatic center project and bonding costs, whichever happens sooner.

On Nov. 14, the council canvassed the results of the special election on the sales tax extension. The election outcome, as certified by the council, included a total of 1,455 “yes” votes and 735 “no” votes.