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ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – The Rochester Regional Sports Complex has turned the heads of local state legislators and a University of Minnesota law professor as DFL Rep. Kim Hicks of Rochester said she plans to introduce a revision to the Rochester 2023 sales tax extension to “ensure voters are getting what they paid for.”
Rochester City Council has decided to build the outdoor portion of the project first and delay the indoor portion until enough money can be raised because the voter-approved project was estimated at nearly $60 million over budget. Some taxpayers in Rochester have claimed that their votes to fund the complex were misled.
University of Minnesota Law Professor Richard Painter, an expert in government and legal ethics, has urged Tim Walz and Keith Ellison to step in.
“The governor and the attorney general should get involved as well in pressuring the political leaders here to put a halt to this project,” Painter said.
Painter mentioned it is vital to ensure voters were properly informed about the project’s change of plans.
“If they revised this plan without going back to the voters, they have betrayed the voters,” Painter said. “Spending the voters’ money, taxing the voters without telling the voters what’s going on; they should all be voted out of office if that’s what they did.”
Republican Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester, the former Senate Tax Committee Chair, said it wouldn’t be easy to amend or pause the city’s 2023 sales tax extension to change the project’s outcome.
“I don’t know that it has been done,” Nelson said. “If you just think about that, you would be amending something that the voters already voted on.”
She mentioned the matter is strictly in the hands of the city council, as voters and legislators have already given their stamp of approval.
“If the city council wants to dramatically rethink the project or seek additional taxpayer funding from local sales taxes, obviously, they would need to come back to the legislature for that,” Nelson said.
Painter said Rochester isn’t alone when it comes to cities underestimating taxpayer-approved projects.
“This is a problem throughout the country that taxpayer money is being spent on projects that taxpayers don’t really even know about before the decisions are made,” Painter said.
Rochester Mayor Kim Norton wrote she is disappointed in the project outcome.
“I have been very clear that I am disappointed in the current choice of projects, how the community was informed, and the location selected. I support a community facing project as the first course of action, followed by the sports competition concept, as I believe that’s what the community voted for.”
As of now, the city plans to fund the indoor portion of the project by earning revenue through renting the outdoor complex and selling additional annexed land near the project site for commercial use.
KTTC also reached out to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison’s staff said it does not comment on matters like these, and the governor’s office has not responded to this point.
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