Before we go off the deep end and spend $260 million for an expansion of the water treatment plant, some major unknowns need to be answered;
The city says we are at 82% Capacity. How long did it take us to get there? How many more years before we are at capacity? How long will it take to build the expansion? Can we draw this expansion out over 5-10 years, doing incremental changes?
What percentage of treatment is used for nearby towns that contract Sioux Falls to treat their water? Can we increase their rates significantly?
What is our true population growth? And how does that breakdown? How many newborns? Retirees, immigrants, new people/families? How many from neighboring towns that already use our treatment plant?
Why are we using the enterprise funds for capital improvements? Shouldn’t this be for operations and maintenance? Why not use 2nd penny funds to pay down bonds of new plant?
As you can see, we have a lot of big questions that need answers before we decide to move forward with the new plant.