VIRGINIA - Voters here overwhelming approved a measure to implement a one-percent sales tax to rebuild the Miners Memorial Complex.

Residents in the city voted 68.84 percent to 31.16 percent in favor.

City officials pitched the plan to residents by promising much of the revenue would come from out-of-town shoppers driving into the city.

The idea to rebuild the complex along the city’s Ninth Avenue West, has been a hot button issue for more than a decade with officials being unable to come up with the funds to keep the building a viable community center after years of neglect.

The project is expected to cost Virginia more than $40 million to complete and Mayor Larry Cuffe had sent out a warning that the city may raise tax levies in the city by up to 28 percent if residents did not vote in favor of the sales tax measure.

The referendum is not a license to implement the tax right away, however. City lawmakers in Virginia must now go to the next legislative session in St. Paul to argue their case and have special legislation passed.

The new tax, if approved, would only cover items already taxed by the state, excluding automobiles.