On night two of a two-part strategic work session relating to the next two years for the Pella City Council, details were discussed about how the city intends to fund the future of fine arts and recreation.

A timeline was released, detailing the goals of certain milestones assuming the council will move forward with either construction of a new fine arts center or renovation of the current facility, as well as the building of a new rec center at the current Pella Sports Park.

The Pella City Council intends to determine the City of Pella’s financial contribution by the end of March 2022, and begin getting key partners to commit resources in April. From there, the council would commit to renewing the local option sales tax through a referendum by June 1st of this year to put on the ballot for voters in September.

Based on presentations given to council as part of the session, the city has options ranging from $36 million to $72 million to consider a mix of adding new and renovation of current facilities as it relates to community fine arts and recreation needs — and with current cash on hand and assumption of using the local option sales tax, the Pella City Council could commit potentially up to $25 million without raising property taxes.

How the rest of the projects are funded and the levels of service included in both will be determined by outside fundraising and if the council would be willing to increase the city’s levy.