Rob Fuller

Some Minot City Council members balked Monday at using city sales tax to fund a bridge replacement in Velva that is part of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project.

However, the council ultimately approved the plans and specifications so the project can be bid.

“It’s a great deal for the city of Velva and McHenry County. Not so much for us as residents of Minot,” council member Rob Fuller said. “Why are we tied to all these other communities and paying for their flood control?”

Utilities Director Jason Sorenson, who represents the city on the Souris River Joint Board, explained flood protection was adopted as a regional project. The SRJB, as project sponsor, receives state funds toward construction, and the City of Minot has agreed to provide the local matching funds through its sales tax.

Council member Mike Blessum said it makes sense to use sales tax, which area residents pay when they shop in Minot.

“I do share some of Alderman Fuller’s concerns here, though,” he added. “The people of Minot are strapped, and they’re being asked to foot this bill again. This isn’t to build flood walls out there. It’s not to build any of that. It’s to replace the bridge.”

Mayor Tom Ross said regional cooperation is how the project garners legislative support for appropriating the large amounts of money the state has invested.

City Manager Harold Stewart also said the flood project is designed as a system, which means Minot’s flood improvements have impacts in other parts of the system.

“As we protect our citizens, we’re changing the flow of that water, and we have responsibility to some of our downstream partners and citizens,” he said.

Fuller said Velva residents would need to spend $370 million in Minot to generate $3.7 million in sales tax, the amount needed from sales tax to meet the local 40% cost share.

“I don’t see that they’re spending that type of money,” Fuller said. “I understand we’ve got to worry about everybody, but our job is to worry about the people in the city of Minot most.

“To put $3.7 million on them to fix a bridge in Velva, to me, just seems absurd without asking for any help from Velva or McHenry County,” he said.

Contacted Tuesday, David Ashley, chairman for the SRJB, said both McHenry County and the McHenry County Water Resource District have contributed toward the flood protection project under construction as well as operation and management of existing flood control.

“The development of the whole basin project made it possible for the Souris River Joint Board to be able to get funding for the project,” Ashley said of state and federal funds. Without those funds, he said, the city of Minot would be left to bear the cost of its flood control on its own.

The council approved the bridge project 5-2, with Fuller and Scott Samuelson opposed.