Ness Fights Against St. Louis County Sales Tax Increase

DULUTH, Minn. - St. Louis County officials are expected to vote on adding a new sales tax to fix county roads Tuesday. Monday afternoon, Duluth Mayor Don Ness held a press conference fighting back saying the tax is not fair. The half percent tax is expected to generate $10.5 million a year and will go to improve the 3,000 miles of roads through rural St. Louis County. The mayor says a majority of the taxes will be generated from Duluth and Hermantown, and the funds will be used to fix roads nowhere near the county's biggest city. Only 3.5 percent of roads in Duluth and Hermantown are county roads and will be funded through the tax.Ness feels there hasn’t been enough awareness and public hearings on the tax and the process is moving too fast. "Part of the frustration that I've been hearing is that one - we weren't aware of this before and now we're being told that this is on the fast track,” said Ness. “The votes are there and there's nothing that you can do about it."Ness says every county in the state is having trouble paying for transportation improvements. He recommended that half the generated funds should go to county roads, and the other half into the cities generating the most. The county responded by stating it's never easy to vote for a tax increase, but the investment will benefit everyone. The vote is expected to happen at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the county board meeting.