Simmering discontent over Washington County's involvement in a quarter-cent sales tax that funds transit development came to a showdown Tuesday as commissioners traded barbs and finally took a vote.
Bill Pulkrabek has opposed the tax since its passage in 2008, but he gained an ally when Autumn Lehrke beat longtime transit champion Myra Peterson in November's election. When Pulkrabek and Lehrke attempted Tuesday to gauge whether they had enough board support to rescind the tax, they fell short in a 3-2 straw poll.
The informal vote, offered amid a tense exchange of opinions, wasn't official but it was a clear indication that the tax won't end anytime soon.
The supporters, Gary Kriesel, Lisa Weik and Dennis Hegberg, delivered a strong defense of the tax as the best way to raise money for four major transitways in Washington County -- and economic development they said would follow.
They got help from city officials who declared their support for continuing the county's involvement in the metro-wide coalition that manages when and where the tax money will be spent.
The cities -- Woodbury, Newport, Cottage Grove and St. Paul Park -- rallied in response to earlier statements that Pulkrabek and Lehrke had made about wanting to back away from the tax.
Mayors Mary Giuliani Stephens of Woodbury and Myron Bailey of Cottage Grove were at Tuesday's meeting to explain how their cities would benefit. Giuliani Stephens said transit development is essential to Woodbury, the county's largest city, and Bailey said his city had started preparing land where a new transit center would be built.
In the original vote authorizing the tax, Hegberg, Peterson and retired commissioner Dick Stafford voted for it, while Pulkrabek and Kriesel opposed it.
