“Eat up, we gotta pay for those escalators at the Pavilion somehow.”
Today I had the pleasure of being Dr. Staggers lunch guest at his Kiwanis club meeting. Today’s speaker was mayor Huether. I asked him now that the entertainment tax will be paying off all of the bonds if the money can be used for maintenance on city owned (entertainment) buildings.
He did not know the answer but told me that finance director Tracy Turbak would get back to me with an answer. Tracy called me promptly about an hour ago to say YES, the monies can be used for maintenance.
This means any further maintenance or upgrades to the buildings will come from that tax instead of the CIP. It is a good milestone for the city.
And kudos to Huether and Turbak for getting back to me so quickly.
See, I’m not always a Debbie Downer.
It’s always a positive when you start paying for the basics (like maintenance) out of cash, rather than debt (which is largely what the CIP is).
It’s a step forward, but it’s kind of like somebody saying “I’m going to stop paying for my weekly groceries with my PREMIER credit card, and start paying for them out of my bank account!” It should have been obvious that the previous method was unsustainable.
So, uh, good job, Sioux Falls! You’re less financially unsustainable than before!