Event Center Task Force Chair, Terry Baloun lays it on thick
We all knew this was coming like a freight train, the Gargoyle Leader endorses the Event Center Task Force’s flawed plan;
The plan, in its broad strokes, deserves the council’s support, subsidy and all.
They conveniently leave their endorsement as the last sentence, so let’s backtrack a bit.
First, what kind of city would Sioux Falls be without government subsidies of certain amenities?
The answer is startling.
We’d have fewer pools and no parks, for one. The Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum probably would be gone. And the bike path? Forget about it. There’d be public safety, roads and sidewalks in Sioux Falls. And that’s about it.
First off, comparing an events center to the bike trail is like comparing apples to oranges. I don’t get charged an admission fee to use the bike trail and the parks. When we pay taxes we expect a service in return, we get that with the bike trail and our parks, we get that with roads, etc. Making the community as a whole pay for a facility that a majority of them will never use is unfair, and my guess will be very unpopular. That is why a BB & B tax combined with an advertising tax is the best way to pay for this facility. It is common sense really; MAKE THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE USING THE FACILITY – PAY FOR THE FACILITY. Not sure how much simpler the concept could be?
A study estimates that an events center and expanded convention center would bring $52 million into Sioux Falls annually. That’s $52 million that might find its way to another city if Sioux Falls flinches at subsidizing an events center. In that light, an estimated annual subsidy of $400,000 shouldn’t be dismissed automatically.
While I can’t deny or prove the $52 million impact, I ask this question, “Who is receiving a majority of this revenue? The common Joe?” Think about it. The Washington Pavilion estimates it generates a $13 million dollar impact every year on Sioux Falls . . . ahem. Let’s ‘pretend’ for just a moment that is true. Has your personal finances and personal wealth grown since the Pavilion and new Convention Center has been built? Probably not. Has a majority of this community grown culturally since the Pavilion been built? I know I have personally benefitted culturally from the Pavilion, but I know I am a very small minority. I don’t think subsidizing these facilities is a bad thing, I just think we need to collect that subsidy fairly – that is what the ED Board leaves out.
The City Council is expected to vote next month on a resolution supporting the events center plan and a temporary 1-cent sales tax to pay for its construction.
Something that will probably get all of the council’s rubber stamp (including maybe even Staggers). But don’t think there won’t be a lot of shit flying before this vote. It already started Monday night. During public input of the city council meeting, only two hours after the task force presented their flawed plan, a citizen urged the council not to approve the funding source for the new events center. The citizen actually sounded like he was in support of the new EC, just not the funding source. But it did not stop Quen Be De Knudson from twisting the responsibility back on the voters. She said, (paraphrasing) “This is really in the hands of the voters to approve this funding source.” Fortunately the citizen wasn’t that stupid to believe De’s bullcrap. He reminded her that the city council is the one that will initiate that process by recommending the flawed funding source to the legislature, to which she didn’t have much of an answer. Also remember, De has ranted and raved every chance she could get at council info meetings about how “she can’t wait to increase retail taxes by 1 cent so this city can build ‘all kinds of wonderful things.'” Make no mistake, this isn’t about letting the voters decide.