In one of the most disappointing nights I have seen in a very long time, only one councilor opposed the property tax increase, Starr. I would have least thought I would have seen Stehly voting against this to (She told me she is voting NO on the 2nd reading).
Councilor Pat Starr, though, stood alone in opposing the annual increase, voting against moving the budget on to a second and final vote next week. He said in the same way that not taking those dollars have an accumulative effect on the city’s budget, property owners also feel the year-after-year impact of annual property taxes. And in a time when affordable housing is a challenge in Sioux Falls, making property ownership more expensive isn’t something he will support, he said.
One of the leading arguments was maintaining our INSANE 25% reserve. I’ve never understood how we can allow local governments to essentially horde money. WHY!? They say it is for ’emergencies’. Hogwash! We have several options,
• We could get money from the Feds and FEMA (which we have had to do several times)
• We could get a loan from either the state or
• We could bond. We are always hearing about our great bond rating, so if we need emergency money, why not just bond it?
Government should never have a savings account on the backs of increasing taxes, especially property taxes, but this town has gone hog wild in raising our property taxes, this past year it seemed like a weekly event.
Councilor Greg Neitzert said the 2.4% increase is necessary to keep up with not just inflationary costs, but also the 3% cost of living increases granted to the three city employee unions during the last round of labor negotiations. Not taking it means structural, systematic cuts would need to be made to counter sacrificing the statutorily allowed increase, he said.
“If people can find a million and a half dollars of frivolous spending in the general fund, I challenge that,” Neitzert said. “I’m just going to urge that we do the right thing and the tough thing and approve a modest increase.”
Hey Greg, ever heard of this thing called CUTS?! Neitzert even had the nerve to call himself a fiscal conservative. I about spit tea thru my nose. When the working class of this town get 1% or 0% raises, guess what they do, they make cuts to their budgets. I guess the city is getting worried because 20% of it’s municipal employees are going to retire in the next 5 years (or something close to that). I look at this as a prime opportunity to cut the top fat and save citizens millions by not hiring replacements without the hassle of laying off or firing civil service employees. If I was the city council and mayor, I would look at this as a gift.
It seems the only thing Sioux Falls city government is good at these days is raising taxes and growing while the rest of us watch our wallets shrink into oblivion.