Polls open in Fargo for special election to determine the fate of potential Fargodome remodel project

FARGO (KFGO) – Tuesday is special election day in Fargo.

Fargo’s first special, city-run election in decades will give citizens a chance to decide if the Fargodome should be remodeled and a conference center added by way of a quarter-cent sales tax increase and 3% lodging tax.

City leaders say the 31-year-old Fargodome is in “desperate” need of updating.

Charley Johnson, the President and CEO of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he believes periodic maintenance and renovation for a large facility like the Fargodome is healthy because, if it’s neglected, residents could wind up with an unusable space.

Johnson said, quote: “The Fargodome, like any other 30-plus year old building, needs to be rehabbed and kept up or it will decline, a la the Fargo Civic Auditorium. You don’t want the Dome to end up, 10 or 15 years from now, being like the Civic is now, which is basically unusable and unfixable.” 

Fargo City Commissioner Denise Kolpack says the city’s lack of adequate meeting space means the community misses out on tens of millions of dollars in economic benefit every year.

Kolpack said, quote: “Right now, with just the Fargodome, it’s $30 million a year average that it brings into our economy. With the addition of the convention center, now we’re talking maybe between $80 and $100 million total a year, once it’s built and we start bringing in events. That’s a long-term economic impact for the entire region.” 

Kolpack also says the tax increases will primarily impact visitors.

Adding, quote: “The way this is structured, it really means that the people utilizing the Dome are the ones paying for it – the people who are coming to the events. The lodging tax only is going to go to the event center and the sales tax to the Fargodome reconstruction and rehab. About 50% of sales tax is paid for by visitors and more than 90-plus percent of lodging is paid for by visitors. So I think it’s equitable.”

Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Tuesday, December 5 at three sites – the Ramada on 13th Ave S., the Fargo Civic Center downtown, and the Fargodome itself.

Story by Tasha Carvell / KFGO