Jill Schramm/MDN Minot Park Board President Perry Olson speaks at an informational meeting on a half percent sales tax as Park District Executive Director Elly DesLauriers listens at left Tuesday.

A conservative estimate of $6 million annually in sales tax collections could cut Minot Park District’s need for property taxes by 40% while allowing for construction, operation and maintenance of park facilities, according to information provided by the park board at a public meeting Tuesday.

The park board held its Mapping the Future meeting to explain a June 3 ballot measure that will ask Minot voters to impose a half percent sales tax for parks.

“We want people to be educated on this and to go to the ballot box knowing what they’re voting on,” Board President Perry Olson said. “If this is something that passes or something that fails, we’re going to continue – I think I speak for the board – to do the best to provide a quality of life that’s good in Minot.”

The ballot measure would reduce the park district’s general fund levy cap from 38 mills to 26 mills for at least 20 years, then revert back only upon vote of the people. The park board’s goal is to drop the mill levy even lower, by 14 mills, to cut property taxes by 40% in the general fund. The park district separately levied about 5 mills for a building fund in 2024.

Based on the 2024 parks budget, the owner of a $250,000 home paid taxes of about $550 to the park district. The measure would lower that assessment to $381. The homeowner would have to purchase $33,750 in taxable items to cancel out the savings in property tax, according to park district information.

Elly DesLauriers, executive director for the park district, said a portion of the sales tax generated by sporting events that bring people to Minot to spend money would go back into the facilities.

With the change in its revenue structure, the park district could pay the bond to construct an indoor turf facility while operating current facilities and planning for future investments in maintenance and additional new projects, she said. She mentioned upcoming maintenance projects that include new roofs for Minot Municipal Auditorium and Maysa Arena, Roosevelt Park pool upgrades, southwest softball complex grading and drainage at the Optimist Soccer Complex. Future needs include improvements at Corbett Field, the Outdoor Recreation Area and the municipal auditorium as well as a Maysa addition and development of a nearby former landfill site.

Monica Hocking, general manager for the Hot Tots and Honeybees softball and baseball teams, liked what she heard at the meeting.

“I think it’s a really great thing for the community of Minot, for our mission, our vision of creating a better quality of life in Minot,” she said.

An indoor turf would be positive for Minot, although for the Hot Tots and Honeybees the interest is in the potential for improvements at Corbett Field, she said.

Dan Dangerfield, board president for Magic City Youth Baseball, said indoor turf would benefit teams by providing space for off-season work. Although his user group isn’t as concerned about the park district’s funding source, Dangerfield said, “As a citizen of Minot, I am a huge advocate of lowering property taxes.”

He also sees the advantage of visitors helping to pay through their sales taxes.

“Teams are coming by the dozens,” he said. “They now will help fund the facilities that they are benefitting from, and I think that’s a win for Minot. That’s why I personally think it’s a great idea.”

DesLauriers outlined the history behind the decision to pursue a sales tax, including the work and community input into an indoor facility study. The number one need identified was an indoor turf facility. The park board has developed a plan to construct a $17 million, 30,000-square-foot fieldhouse near the Maysa Arena.