Why not loan money for façade program instead?

The handouts are ending and the crying begins;

A city program that helps historic building owners spruce up downtown storefronts is the latest casualty of Sioux Falls’ sales tax slump.

Rich Brue had planned to used the city’s façade easement program to help pay for improvements to his property at 212-216 South Main Avenue.

Now that he’s ready to start a $2.8 million renovation project, he was disappointed to learn the program’s funding is zeroed out in Mayor Mike Huether’s 2018 budget.

“It’s not something promised, but it’s something that’s been available for renovation of these old historic buildings in downtown Sioux Falls,” Brue said.

Exactly, NOT PROMISED. Besides the fact that it is a handout from taxpayers to developers, one of the bigger arguments against the program is it only applied to downtown historic buildings and not other older structures in Sioux Falls.

But as we already know, developers can AFFORD to make these upgrades themselves;

Brue can’t delay his project in hopes of getting city dollars, so he’ll go without.

“I’ve got obligations to my tenants for timelines in which to finish it,” Brue said. “The façade easement is not going to make or break the project, but it would have helped soften the blow. Construction costs are not cheap.”

If you can’t afford to redevelop a building you bought, maybe you should not have bought it? Why should taxpayers bail out your bad investment decisions?

I’m not totally against government ‘helping’ with these projects though. There are other ways to help besides a handout. Through community development they could get a low interest loan to help with the historical aspects of the building. When I got my community development loan it came with a low interest and after the loan was secured and work was finished the loan was sold to a bank who administered the repayment. We can still have a façade program, we just need to change the way it is paid for.