Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about the plan:
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The proposed plan is a $76.9 million community investment to replace the aging Public Works & Parks Maintenance Facility and License & Passport Center with new buildings that will improve public services for Roseville residents.
The new Maintenance Operations Center will be a flexible, multipurpose facility that is roughly three times the size of the current building, allowing staff to more efficiently manage and maintain the city’s fleet of over 300 vehicles, water distribution systems, roadwork, snow removal, and 32 parks. Unlike the current facility, the new building will be a centralized, one-stop-shop with adequate space for storage, service, and maintenance needs.
As one of the busiest registrars in the state, the new License & Passport Center will support more efficient license and passport processing for thousands of city residents and other Minnesotans. With nearly two times the amount space at the current facility, The Challenges the new center will create an improved customer experience.
Visit Our Challenges page for additional details.
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The total cost for completing both projects is estimated to be $76.9 million:
The new Maintenance Operations Center: $64.2 million.
The new License & Passport Center: $12.7 million.
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The city is proposing a 0.5% local sales tax to finance up to $76.9 milllion for the construction of the new Maintenance Operations Center and new License & Passport Center, plus interest and bond issuance costs. This November, Roseville voters will consider whether to approve a 0.5% sales tax to fund each project.
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The new Maintenance Operations Center will be located at the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and Woodhill Drive, where the VFW, Veteran’s Park, and Lexington Shoppes are currently situated. Shifting the maintenance center to the north side of Woodhill Drive allows for an expanded green space in the heart of the city’s civic campus.
The new License & Passport Center will be located across the street from the new Maintenance Operations Center, at the southwest corner of Lexington Ave and Woodhill Drive.
The VFW will be relocated to a new building next door to the new License & Passport Center. This arrangement allows for project phasing that will keep the VFW in continuous operations, with a dedicated parking and outdoor green space.
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Veteran’s Park will be closed to make way for construction of the larger Maintenance Operations Center that will support a wide range of essential city services. Residents currently enjoy a playground, half-court basketball, and green space at Veteran’s Park that will need to be replaced. The current programs operating out of the park, including youth softball, senior softball, and fall soccer, will also need to be relocated.
To help compensate for the loss of these amenities, the city is partnering with the Roseville School Board to explore options for developing existing, underutilized green space owned by the district. If voters approve 0.5% local sales to finance the new Maintenance Operations Center, the city will conduct a needs assessment and seek community input to determine where new public park amenities could be located on school district land.
Questions about the Maintenance Facility:
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The Maintenance Facility is the operational hub for most essential city operations, including managing and maintaining the city’s fleet of more than 300 city vehicles, water and sewer systems, road work, snow removal, and 32 parks.
Visit our Challenges page for additional details on operations and why this space is no longer sufficient.
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With parts of the building dating back to 1957, the existing Maintenance Facility is not equipped for the variety of maintenance operations and essential city services it supports. Many of the facility’s central systems are past their useful life, including the fuel system, security system, roof, and drainage systems. Additionally, the current facility needs roughly three times the amount of space it has in order to operate efficiently, according to an assessment by the BKV Group.
Due to the lack of space and cramped conditions in the current facility, the city has been forced to lease space offsite for storing some of the large equipment and vehicles that require maintenance. With no centralized location for equipment, many of the city’s snowplows, trailers, and other vehicles are spread across town, slowing response times to the 12,000 service calls received annually and adding time to complete ongoing project work.
Learn more about the challenges at the Maintenance Facility here.
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The new Maintenance Operations Center will be a flexible, multipurpose facility that is roughly three times the size of the current building. Unlike the existing facility, the new building will be a centralized, one-stop-shop for storage, service, and maintenance needs. It will also provide additional space for efficiently managing and maintaining the city’s fleet of vehicles, water distribution systems, roadwork, snow removal, and parks.
If the project moves forward, the city will no longer need to lease storage space offsite, allowing staff to respond to calls for maintenance, repairs, and snow removal in a more efficient and timely manner.
For additional details, visit our Plan page.
Questions about the License & Passport Center:
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Between bordering 10 communities and having 1.5 million living people within 15 miles of the city, the License & Passport Center has become one of the busiest registrars in the state, processing more than 185,000 transactions per year for driver's licenses, vehicle tabs, vehicle titles, hunting and fishing licenses, and passports.
The current building only has half the space it needs to deliver efficient services, according to the BKV Group’s space needs assessment. The limited space and design constraints create workflow problems and noisy conditions, often making it difficult for staff and customers to hear one another.
With license and passport centers closing in nearby cities, the demand for services at the Roseville center is expected to surge over the next few years, but the current building lacks the space needed to support a growing customer base. Learn more about challenges at the License & Passport Center here.
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The new License & Passport Center will support more efficient license and passport processing for thousands of city residents and other Minnesotans. Designed for future operations growth, the new building will allow for expanded operations support, front-counter service space, and a sufficient separation between different aspects of operations, as required by federal regulators.
With nearly two times the amount space at the current facility, the new center will create a more efficient and improved customer experience. Customers who need translation services will be able to access them with greater ease due to decreased noise levels, and customers who need to discuss personal matters will be able to do so privately.
For additional details, visit our Plan page.
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Yes. Like the current center, the new building will provide sufficient space for city recreation programs, including the popular dance program and several adult and youth wellness programs.
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The License & Passport Center is a significant revenue generator for the city. Every year, approximately $400,000 of revenue from the center is used to offset the costs of other city operations for Roseville residents. That means that as the center operates more efficiently and processes more transactions, it will generate more revenue that will offset the cost of additional city services that are currently funded through local taxes paid by Roseville residents and businesses.
Questions about the planning process:
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Recognizing the lack of space and aging infrastructure at both the Public Works and Parks Maintenance Facility and License & Passport Center, the City of Roseville conducted a space needs assessment in 2017 that found major deficiencies in both buildings. The city then hired the BKV Group in to help develop a master plan for optimizing public services for Roseville residents in 2021. This entailed another space needs assessment and a series of engagement efforts with project and community stakeholders to identify current and future needs. This assessment found that:
The Maintenance Facility needs roughly three times the current space to manage operations, repairs, and calls for snow removal or maintenance.
The License & Passport Center needs roughly two times the current space to meet federal standards for managing operations.
After a thorough review, the Roseville City Council recognized that investments were needed to effectively address infrastructure needs, lack of space, and overall workflow deficiencies in both buildings. In May 2023, the Minnesota State Legislature authorized the city to pursue a local 0.5% sales tax option to fund the new Maintenance Operations Center and new License & Passport Center. Learn more about the plan here.
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Roseville residents played a major role in shaping this plan. The planning process included a series of engagement efforts that gathered Roseville community input through online and printed surveys, an outdoor walking tour, and an interactive website that allowed residents to markup the proposed plans and offer their own ideas.
Leading up to November, the city will continue to engage residents and collect community input on the plan, needs, and priorities for both the new Maintenance Operations Center and License & Passport Center through surveys, public meetings, and other opportunities.
Learn more on our Process page.
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If voters approve the 0.5% local sales tax to support these projects this November, the city will move forward with design and engineering work in 2025. Construction would likely begin in the fall of 2025, and the new License & Passport Center is estimated to open by the summer of 2028, while the new Maintenance Operations Center is estimated to be complete by the summer of 2029.
Questions about the proposed sales tax:
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Cities have two primary ways to pay for public service improvements: sales taxes and property taxes. The City Council chose a local sales tax because it would spread the cost of the projects among residents and nonresidents who make purchases in the city and often benefit from city services. If approved by voters, 64% of the sales tax would be paid by nonresidents according to an independent analysis by the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality.
If both projects are approved by voters this November:
Nonresidents would contribute approximately $49 million of the $76.9 million cost.
Residents would contribute approximately $28 million of the $76.9 million cost.
For each Roseville resident, the cost of the 0.5% sales tax is estimated to be $4.62 per month, or $55.48 a year, according to the University of Minnesota research. If the projects were funded through a property tax, a median-value home would increase by approximately $30 per month, or $360 per year.
For additional details, visit our Cost page.
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If approved by voters this November, the 0.5% sales tax will generate one cent for every $2 spent, or five cents for every $10 purchase. For each Roseville resident, the cost of the 0.5% sales tax is estimated to be $4.62 per month, or $55.48 a year.
For more information visit our Cost page.
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The University of Minnesota analyzed the economic effects of a local sales tax in several cities and found little evidence that overall sales growth for businesses was affected.
For more information visit our Cost page.
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If approved by voters, the sales tax would be implemented in the spring of 2025 and continue for 20 years, or until the approved projects, plus interest and bond issuance costs, are paid —or whichever happens first.
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Much like a family that uses a mortgage to purchase a house, the city will use bonds to pay for the construction and pay both principal and interest.
If the city waited to finance construction until all the necessary funding was collected from the sales tax, the project would cost several times more than the current projection and take much longer to complete.
More importantly, city residents will start to benefit from the investment in the next 3-5 years, instead of many years down the road.
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Yes. Local sales taxes are applied the same way as state sales taxes. Essential goods, including groceries, clothing, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, feminine hygiene products, and baby products, are exempt. For more information, view the complete list of tax-exempt items from the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
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Dozens of cities and counties have adopted local sales taxes to help pay for various major public projects that benefit the community, including new community centers, jails, libraries, parks and trails, and other public amenities. In many cases, these communities determined that a local sales tax was the most effective way to share the cost of the investments with nonresidents who often use and benefit from their public amenities.
In recent years, several metro area cities have approved a local sales tax, including Edina (parks and recreation improvements), Maple Grove (community center renovation), and Golden Valley (new public safety and public works building).
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If the 0.5% local sales tax for the new Maintenance Operations Center and License & Passport Center is approved, the total sales tax in Roseville would be 8.875%, effective in 2025.
The current sales tax rate in the City of Roseville is 8.375%. This includes the 6.88% Minnesota state sales tax, the 0.5% Ramsey County transit tax, the 0.75% metro area transportation tax, and the 0.25% metro area tax for housing.
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No. If approved by voters this November, the 0.5% sales tax would be in place for 20 years, or until the projects are paid for — whichever happens first.
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If approved by Roseville voters, the local sales tax can only be used to pay for the approved projects. That is state law. The sales tax cannot be extended or used for any other purpose unless approved by the State Legislature and Roseville voters.
Questions about voting:
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This November, Roseville voters will consider two separate ballot questions to finance the 1) Maintenance Operations Center and 2) License & Passport Center. Because the two projects will be listed separately on the ballot, residents will vote on whether to support each project with a 0.5% local sales tax individually.
If approved by voters, the sales tax would be in place for 20 years, or until the approved projects are paid for — whichever happens first. The sales tax rate would be 0.5% if one or both projects are approved.
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If the sales referendum isn’t approved by voters, the city would engage residents about why they didn’t support the plan and what their priorities are for future investments. The city would also explore other ways to address the challenges in both the Maintenance Facility and License & Passport Center. However, improvements would likely occur more slowly and be smaller in scale and impact. Alternative funding sources may be limited, and costs would be higher as the projects would be phased over many years.
The city would also have to continue managing the various inefficiencies and higher costs associated with both buildings. For example, Maintenance Facility staff would have to continue wasting labor hours on driving to the offsite vehicle storage location and rearranging vehicles and equipment in the cramped garage. At the License & Passport Center, staff would have to continue staggering training sessions over several hours because all staff cannot fit into one room at the facility.
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Election day is on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Residents can vote in person on election day at their polling location.
Early voting will begin on Friday, Sept. 20th. Residents can vote early in person at [insert relevant info].
Residents can also vote early at home by requesting an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
For more information, visit: Voters | Ramsey County.
