Apparently Councilor Rick Kiley has a crystal ball, because he is predicting our water and sewer rates are going up;
“They foresee a possible increase of about $2 per month for a family of five,” city councilor Rick Kiley said.
Kiley says the city knew this day was coming.
“You never want to raise rates, but in a situation like this where we are at 82% capacity today, we have a community that’s growing by 5,000 people every year and we are bringing on regional customers in addition to that it’s the prudent thing to do now is to expand our existing facilities,” Kiley said.
The city council will be voting on the funding this project when it passes the city budget in October.
While I agree we need to fix up a 1980’s water treatment plant, if we didn’t switch the rates over to enterprise funds we could easily pay the bonds with 2nd penny CIP revenue without raising fees. But see, former mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut wanted to free up the 2nd penny from paying for silly old water pipes, and use it for paying down bonds for monument building.
So now our taxes are going up for a new jail, and Minnehaha county admitted at their Tuesday meeting (Commissioner Barth) that there will likely be another opt out, put that on top of a 25 year around $300 million dollar new school bond and our already existing $300 million city debt, and things are going to get a lot more expensive in Sioux Falls, including taking a dump.
What about wages? Any plans to increase them? What’s the word from the Downtown Rotary Club and/or the Chamber on that one?
#WageCollusion
It appears the city is going to try to use the school board bait and switch tactic. Gee folks, it will only be a mere $2 a month!!! Mere pocket change!!! Yeah, a mere $2 a month for water reclamation. How much a month for water? Keep in mind, that is a mere $2 a month this year. Another $2 a month the following year. Another $2 a month the year after that. And on. And on. And on. Just luke the school board is presenting their plan. After a while all this $2 a month BS starts to add up. Especially in a town renowned for wages under $15 an hour.
It was going to happen. The water department has done a good job managing an old system. I’m not angry about this but it seems everything has a higher price lately. Inflation?
A new jail is needed. The county makes a little money from state and federal prisoners. The sheriff gave good reasons a few years ago. I don’t normally trust political types but Barth seems honorable. The city pays nothing to use the jail. They should. There will be fewer false arrests if jail lease is a line item in the city budget.
It’s like the Book of The Month Club. You only have to buy four more books at regular price over the next two years, but its the shipping and “handling,” which kill you….
Scott, I think I stumbled across your blog in about 2004. This site has done a better job of anybody, bar none, of keeping us informed on many issues. Water rates one of them. These water rate increases have going on as long as I’ve been visiting your site. So…just out of curiosity, I used your search engine and typed in “water ratesâ€, for a bit of a refresher. I found one interesting comment. You said in 2008 you paid about $14 a month for water and sewer. I wonder if $14 could even cover the basic monthly charge, even if you did not use a drop of water?
Right now the charge is $7.41 per CCF of use. This rate increase amounts to about 6% a year…compounded yearly. That means in just 5 years $7.41 per CCF will be $9.91. These are very unsustainable increases. Throw in sky rocketing home assessments, new schools that will likely raise my taxes at least $300 a year in the next ten, even if my assesssment stays the same, and that means only one thing. I will no longer be able to afford to live here. If we can’t afford to stay here, that means a whole lot of other everyday folks won’t be able to eirher. SAD. This has been my home since 1960.
Warren Phear makes a good point. I got priced out of a home in Colorado that doubled in value. My mortgage payoff was the same but I could no longer afford the taxes. There were plans for a subway tunnel under me and my neighbors became doctors who tore down homes and built castles. It’s not as bad in Sioux Falls but a time may be coming. Wages are low, home prices high, and few homes on the market. There’s been federal money for low income housing but developers manage to use it for ground floor retail with 2nd floor overpriced apartments. What’s good about SD is there are short cycles of relative but overly optimistic boom followed by a long period of deep dark bust. Judging from all the empty retail space a bust is coming. Trump is imposing tariffs such that Ag products are not exported. Ethanol never could have happened and alcohol from seaweed is cheaper production. Tech is chips for unpopular credit cards. Medical is moving to Minnesota because nobody wants to work for Sanford. Business leaders are proud of a huge Sadam sword arch across the river. There’s no place to go except out and away.
Speaking of the Arch, you should see the number the contractors who poured the base did on the sidewalk by the pedestrian bridge, they will have to repour that to.
DS,
It sounds like you lived in the “McKennan Park” of Colorado….. Did they have a ‘Potato Man’ statue, too?
It was west in the mountains on I-70 near Evergreen CO
No potato man but lots of tree huggers