I just attended the press conference about the sale of the EC bonds. They will take place next Tuesday, and they hope to be at 22 years repayment and 4% or under, they will make an announcement on Wednesday morning.
During the press conference, Ellis asked about spending sponsorship/naming rights money on construction instead of operational. I guess there has been talk of this. During the presentations last fall, we were told by the Mayor and his directors that naming rights money would go towards operating expenses, not construction. Turbak pretty much blamed the change on IRS/Tax Exempt bond rules. Which I partially believe.
BUT,
• Didn’t they have that information before the vote? And why wasn’t it shared with the voters?
• If the naming rights money goes towards construction, does that mean we will be able to pay off the facility faster? Or is it going to cost us more?
• Where will the operating money come from if we can’t use all of the naming rights money for operating expenses (The IRS allows partial use of operational subsidies coming from sponsorships)?
After the press conference was over, the mayor asked if I understood what Turbak was saying, and I said I did. I told him, “Just as long as you are not naming things at the new EC after dead people (ex: Pavilion Great Hall), I’m cool with it.” and Mike replied, “If they give us money, I don’t care.”
A South DaCola foot soldier just sent me a picture of Dean’s campaign signs. He is misleading voters (he must be using the same consultants the BIN people used). Remember the last city council race Dean was in, he lost against Bob Litz. Dean was APPOINTED to the city council, the voters did not elect him.
The first financials have been released today, Dean’s donor list reads like a listing of prominent bankers and developers in town.
Some explanations: Barb Stork is the wife of Citi’s CEO in SF. Evan Nolte is the head of the SF Chamber of Commerce. And you will notice at the top, Jim Schmidt sits on the Lincoln County Commission.
UPDATE
Compare Karsky’s fundraising with every other candidate to date and I think this makes him look bad. It looks to some like payback for his EC site vote last June. If you dig a little deeper through the city web site archives, and you’ll find Karsky collected his first campaign contribution right after Thanksgiving from the Home Builder’s Association (which publicly endorsed the EC at the Arena and whose 2011 President, Alan Amdahl was also a campaign chair for Build It Now): http://www.siouxfalls.org/~/media/documents/Election/2010/year_end_reports/Karsky_123011.ashx.
I’m think Karsky sold his EC vote last April in exchange for selection to the council and now he may be getting payback for delivering on his end of the deal.
South Dakota Voters Express Increasing Confidence in their Personal Economic Situation
In a February survey, when Nielson Brothers Polling asked South Dakota registered voters about their personal economic situation, 41 percent responded that they are “more confident†than they were at this time last year. 29 percent are “less confident,†and 30 percent answer “about the same.†These answers show a significant rise in confidence compared to the December 2011 NBP survey in which 23 percent said “more confident,†while 49 percent said “less confident,†and 28 percent said “about the sameâ€.
When NBP asked for views on the national economy, respondents expressed a more modest increase in optimism. 57 percent of South Dakota voters describe the U.S. economy as “excellent†or “good,†compared with 54 percent in the December. More specifically, in the February NBP poll, 8 percent said the nation’s economy is “excellent,†49 percent said “good, 30 percent said “fairâ€, and 13 percent said “poor.†In the December 2011 NBP Survey, 12 percent said “excellent.†42 percent said “good,†26 percent said “fair,†and 20 percent said “poor.â€
Personally I still think we are in a strange holding pattern, and will be for awhile.
HB 1206 passed and the governor signed it on Friday.
It makes an appropriation for emergency food assistance grants and repeals the sales tax on food refund program.
Now if we can just get rid of that pesky food tax!
l3wis