(The following story by Lawrence Schumacher appeared on the St. Cloud Times website on January 13.)
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids remain committed to the proposed Northstar commuter rail line, despite the fact it won’t come to those cities soon.
Both city councils approved resolutions Monday to continue support for the proposed train service, though that support probably won’t have any dollars attached to it unless the train goes farther than in the Minneapolis to Big Lake plan now being considered.
“We’re not going to give any money toward Northstar unless we get a station out of it,” St. Cloud Mayor John Ellenbecker said. “But we want to continue on as members (of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority).”
The resolutions of support could help keep the group from coming apart after new federal funding guidelines indicated the project should only go as far as Big Lake, not Rice as originally proposed.
The group is composed of counties from Hennepin to Benton along the Burlington, Northern and Santa Fe railroad line Northstar would use.
Northstar supporters will ask the Legislature for bonding money to go from Minneapolis to Big Lake, at a new cost of about $265 million. Federal dollars would pay half and state dollars 40 percent. Local governments would pay 10 percent.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to announce his bonding request for state transportation and transit at a press conference today at Anoka.
Pawlenty’s support is considered crucial for Northstar’s chances at state funding.
St. Cloud City Council and group member Woody Bissett said he expects Pawlenty to announce his support for Northstar, though he is unsure how much state money Pawlenty will propose.
Bissett said he is convinced service will eventually go to St. Cloud and Rice.
“If we can show any progress, the extension will be either slower or faster,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to stick together on this.”
St. Cloud does not pay fees to be a member of the group, but the city and Stearns County modified their joint rail authority last year to allow it to collect taxes for membership dues.