Oh, Shucks.
Doc:Â Budget-SF-2018
Imagine that, a mayor managing a budget that invests in it’s people and customer service. GET OUT! I have often argued with people that there is no where in the US Constitution, State Constitution or City Charter that requires our city to spend capital on entertaining us.
Running a city is pretty simple. You take in tax dollars and you spend it on maintaining the city;
• Public Safety
• Planning and Zoning
• Infrastructure and Public utilities
If there is money left over we either refund it (LOL) or we spend it on parks, etc.
I do take a couple issues with the budget address itself (Video). Paul mentions that the police need riot gear for violent protests. Really? I don’t really have a response to that, unless of course the Keystone pipeline plans to go thru our town.
While I understand reorganizing certain departments when it comes to employees and roles, I do think the city needs to look at more technology to help reduce the number of city employees we have. This of course would require us to eliminate the person in charge of that. Please do that soon, we could probably save millions.
I have a response Mr. Mayor…Thank you. Why would anyone not want our police force to be prepared in the eventuality of a civil disturbance? This is a no-brainer.
At what point, in the last 30 years, has there been a violent protest in Sioux Falls? In the last 40 years? Honestly, the last actual violent protest one I can think of was in 1974 with the AIM Riot.
There is more danger at Hobo days or a concert getting out of hand than there is an actual violent protest taking place.
No no no SD Vet, why would we spend on preparation? Better to try to play catch up when it hits the fan. Better to get sued because the officers use improper civil disturbance techniques and the city ends up paying millions on the back end. Yes, this seems the way to go….remind me again how big Ferguson was?
You hit the nail on the head with the I.T. Problems. The city is never going to make advancements until the have someone leading the technology area who knows what they’re doing.
I see larger companies doing more with less I.T. People.
The budget is high but (finally) it’s focused on citizens and infrastructure instead of private TIF’s like building the mayor’s wife 6 indoor tennis courts. It’s high because Huether ignored expenditure requirements for a growing city. Riot gear is sometimes required for a mid sized city. Shields and body armor establishes a line to push a crowd back without using force. It protects officers and may be a factor for keeping city liability insurance low. I hope it’s stored and never has to be used.
sd vet, why do you think a civil disturbance is inevitable?
I’m kind of perplexed as to why “enterprise†and the “police†need such a large budget allocation? Honestly, if someone has some insight, I’d like to hear it. What has transpired with Hultgren/Legacy is unforgivable. I would hope that the mayor/councilors would do what is right, rather then condemning what was done in the past and continuing on the same course.