Ellis from the Argue Endorser wrote a column today about the water rate finger pointing;
Mayor Mike Huether got a phone call Tuesday. It was Gary Hanson – former mayor and city commissioner, current Public Utilities commissioner.
Hanson was looking for clarification about comments Huether had made the night before.
“We’re in a catch-up mode in so many ways,” Huether said.
Hanson, who served two terms as mayor, heard about the comments that evening and called Huether the next day to find out whether Huether was accusing him of being a leaderless leader of Sioux Falls. Huether assured him he wasn’t pointing the finger at Hanson. Hanson says he takes Huether at his word.
Really? Then why did you use PART of my quote, “Seems were paying for the sins of the past?”
Oh, and it seems Munson wants to be known as the ‘Roads Mayor’
Munson left office after one of the worst winters in recent memory. With rain in January that subsequently froze, it was an especially bad season for roads. In his last few weeks in office, Munson launched what he called the “most aggressive campaign ever” to fix the roads. When Huether took over, he intensified that effort, to much acclaim from the public.
Munson isn’t happy about being a scapegoat for bad roads. If you look at the final capital budget he proposed, there was $209 million budgeted for roads over five-years. Huether’s first capital budget has $150 million over five years
The key word here is ‘final’ that’s because in his other 7 years he squandered the money on stupid crap, and it seems he was trying to make up for lost time.
Back to those water rate increases: They started under Munson. It was his long-term plan to pay for the bonds that financed the city’s stake in the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System. The rate increases also ensure that water users pay for that service, rather than subsidizing the water utility from general tax dollars.
“When I was there, we were in danger of looking at a subsidy from the general fund, and I don’t think that’s the way it should be,” Munson said.
Huether has accepted that philosophy as well. The city borrowed $70 million for Lewis & Clark, pledging water rates to pay off the debt. You can’t change that now, he said, so the rates must go up.
Poppycock. You can do whatever you want, Munson says in his opinion it shouldn’t be subsidized, but there is no state or federal law preventing a city from doing that. Tax money is tax money. I don’t think you are ‘subsidizing’ anything if you are spending that money on infrastructure. Now streets to nowhere and rock and wood thingies, that is up for debate.