Remember former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut’s mantra? Facilities/services should be paid for through user fees.
This has been the argument for raising sewer and water rates to pay the treatment plant bonds.
Yet, all of these facilities have NEVER been paid for through user fees;
Indoor Pool, Admin building, Huether Tennis Center and most famously the Denty.
The idea was certainly pitched that every ticket purchased at the Denty would have a fee attached to it to help pay down the $9 million a year mortgage. The former mayor responded something like this, “We will certainly look at it.”
While the Denty has done a good job covering operating expenses and management fees, it has contributed very little to capital improvement or paying the mortgage, both which come from the 2nd Penny (we all pay it when we purchase something in Sioux Falls).
A $5 ticket fee or more could easily be attached to the ticket price to help pay down the mortgage, other facilities across the nation do it, but SMG has said that artists and promoters set ticket prices and are opposed to it. Phooey!