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St. Louis County staff outline $44 million Hibbing public works campus plan; board gives planning nod
Summary
County public works presented a plan for a new Hibbing-area maintenance campus (preferred Balkan Township site) with a project estimate of $40 million–$44 million, potential geothermal and solar, and proposed repayment from transportation sales tax; commissioners signaled broad support to proceed with design and bonding preparations.
St. Louis County public works staff presented an accelerated plan for a new Hibbing-area public works campus and vehicle/maintenance garage, with preliminary budget estimates of about $40 million and a total program budget of $44 million that includes contingency and design. Commissioners indicated they broadly support moving forward with planning and the bonding process to meet a timeline driven in part by the City of Hibbing.
County staff described two candidate sites — one near the Hibbing airport and a second on tax-forfeit property in Balkan Township (near Trunk Highway 169 and County State Aid Highway 5). The analysis favors the Balkan Township location for operational efficiency because it is closer to the centroid of the road network the campus will serve. Staff said the county and the City of Hibbing have reached near-principle agreement on a $1.3 million payment from Hibbing to the county for St. Louis County’s third interest in the current jointly owned Hibbing campus; final payment terms remain under negotiation.
Preliminary work completed includes site and cost analyses, separate appraisals by city and county, a plan for temporary accommodations while the city accelerates its construction, and a request-for-proposal process for an architect/engineer (proposals due February). Staff outlined a phased timeline that includes mass grading and preliminary site work, sanitary sewer extension (in partnership with the City of Chisholm), and campus construction with fuel islands, salt domes, warm storage, truck wash, and office/shop space. Staff also proposed including geothermal heating and potential solar installations and said they will pursue grants to reduce up-front costs for those energy features.
On financing, staff recommended using transportation sales tax (TST) revenue to repay bonds rather than general levy. The county’s TST currently generates about $21.5 million annually and carries approximately $6.9 million in existing debt service; county policy targets no more than 50% of a fund’s revenue for debt service (roughly $10.75 million in this case). Staff proposed exploring 15-, 20- and 25-year repayment options to balance capacity, cost of issuance and continuing pay-as-you-go road projects funded by TST.
Commissioner discussion covered site choice, geothermal and solar (commissioners urged staff not to cut geothermal if cost pressures arise), the timing of bonding (board members reminded colleagues that bond approval requires five votes), and the economic-development potential if the city relocates public works from the highway corridor. Several commissioners asked for and received assurances that county staff are coordinating closely with the City of Hibbing and that temporary accommodations for operations during the transition are already being managed.
Deputy administrator and public works staff requested board direction to proceed with the accelerated planning and procurement steps; commissioners responded with broad support and a board-level indication to continue. Staff said formal bond authorization, hearings and other required board actions would return to the board in coming weeks as the design and financing details firm up.
No formal vote to bond or to select a final site was taken at the meeting; the board signaled support to move through the planning, design and bonding-preparation steps with continued staff reporting back to the board.
