• There will be no new taxes or increased taxes to pay for the new Events Center project.
Nope. Just the shifting of fees from the 2nd penny into rates, which continue to be increased, EVEN before this project is approved.
• The City of Sioux Falls plans to provide the down payment.
From where? Reserves? Aren’t reserves for emergencies like backed up sewers?
• Private funding will also be raised, through naming rights, sponsorships and donations. The City of Sioux Falls estimates this to be between 15 and 25 percent.
Less then 3 months away from the vote, and we have yet to see one single sponsorship. Shouldn’t this be secured before the vote happens?
• A significant portion of this project will be funded by Sioux Falls sales tax bonds, and the Events Center project will be included in the city’s five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Try THE ENTIRE PORTION will be funded by bonds.
They also like to spread this rumor;
• Multiple reports in the past 10 years, including the most recent study performed, have indicated the direct and indirect economic impact of an Events Center in Sioux Falls to be around $50,000,000 million dollars annually.
And where will people be spending that $50 million a year in our community? Flying into our international airport, staying at our many luxurious hotels or eating at one of our fine dining establishments by the Arena?
UPDATE: Looks like the CVB is going to do a little ‘spreading’ of their own;
………..wonderful picture!
You would think with a war chest of $400,000+, that ‘Build It Now’ could at least get their facts straight!!!
Go to their website–Build It Now Sioux Falls/Background/Project Funding:
There will be no new taxes or increased taxes to pay for the new Events Center project.
Do you really believe that anyone can accurately predict what will happen during the 22 year life of the events center bonds??!!
The city of Sioux Falls plans to provide the down payment.
A down payment was not mentioned in any of the Director of Finance’s EC funding presentations.
The City of Sioux Falls estimates private funding to be between 15 and 25 percent.
We are now just 82 days away from the vote…where are all these private benefactors??!!
OR, perhaps, they are planning on waiting until the last possible moment to reveal this, in order to try to swing the vote!!
A significant portion of this project will be funded by Sioux Falls sales tax bonds.
Read the ballot language (siouxfalls.org). We will be bonding for the ENTIRE amount of 115 million dollars.
In addition, what is also interesting about these inaccurate statements is that the down payment and the 15-25 percent of private money were two things that the Mayor “promised” during his campaign!!
perhaps if his man mike was a better employee, his old boss t-denny would’ve donated 100 million to the city instead of giving it to kelby today. oh yeah, and health care providers need sales tax revenue now too.
I find it interesting how little they talk about how this project will boost the stagnant Arena neighborhood.
Seems to me they’ve ceded the point that it won’t.
“Construction and labor costs are low right now. Costs to build the Events Center are growing at a rate of 6% annually. ”
These two points together seem contradictory. The pricing in construction is based on market conditions. You can’t tell me that if you opened up competitive bids again a year from now on a project of this size they will automatically be 6% higher any more than you can tell me what the interest rates will be at that time.
I had someone ask me if I was supporting the EC yet? My answer to them was, “has the financial package changed where we are not bonding the ENTIRE package, has the location changed, and has there been any developers come forward to develop this area?” Ahhh – nope. Well – my answer is still nope, also.
That have to lie in order to sell this, because if you look at the hard numbers this is a lose – lose proposition.
[…] STORY1 […]