When asked about solutions to childcare in Sioux Falls, Paul responds;
I’m a little more interested in global solutions than shotgun solutions for our community.
Huh? What do unwed teen mothers have to do with childcare affordability? And why does France care about our childcare problems? Thank god this answer was at the end of the interview, because I am not sure where you go from there?
But his word games don’t end with childcare, he thinks getting rid of the tax on food in Sioux Falls (around $15 million a year) would be detrimental to the city’s already bloated and massive budget of around $800 million for 2024.
On the finance side, he is also concerned about the local impact if sales tax on groceries is eliminated. It’s something that could become a reality if voters pass a proposed statewide ballot measure in November, and the mayor said it’s an “elephant in the room” that would significantly impede the city’s ability to serve constituents.
Is $15 million a good chunk of change? Sure. But you can’t resurface a bridge or build a bunker ramp for that amount. While I would be concerned if we were a smaller community, we could easily adjust our budgeting to overcome the shortfall, not to mention that $15 million may be collected on other purchases. We also have a reserve fund that sat at almost $80 million last year. For the city to say we would be in dire straits by eliminating this tax is hogwash. We spend millions each year propping up non-profits and quality of life projects. This cut would be a hiccup. But sadly we may never see the cut locally. If the statewide initiative passes local communities can still charge up to 2 cents and it would take the council or a citizen led local petition to get that changed. If the statewide initiative passes I encourage citizens to hound the city council about eliminating the tax locally.
Speaking of the bunker ramp, TenHaken seems to think that the place doesn’t cost us anything!
It’s costing the taxpayers exactly zero cents to have that ramp unfinished … so that’s why we’re not in a hurry.
I’m not sure who is running the books for the city, but I think they would disagree. The bonds for the Bunker Ramp are being paid down by parking fees (taxes). In fact it is costing so much, the parking department spends their yearly budget on little else, so in essence it is costing taxpayers in lost or sub par services. We are basically paying a mortgage on a rental property with no renters and getting zero ROI.
He also mentions the Link;
The Link has been open two and a half years now. I think it’s doing some things great, and it’s doing other things not so great. We just want to make sure we’re serving the needs of all the partners – that’s going to be a focus in the next year.
I think with the recent announcement of the expansion of Avera Behavioral Health the city will be moving to privately contract even more for services at the Link. Not sure what that model will look like since there is ZERO transparency from the administration, but I predict there are wheels in motion.
He also has a BOLD vision for the Riverline District;
In the first quarter of this year, the community’s going to hear about a pretty bold vision of what we’d like to see.
Recently the mayor mentioned this in a separate interview;
“We’re shooting to say ‘Here’s the vision. Here’s the dream around convention space and indoor rec space and all the needs the community has,’” TenHaken said.
I have a feeling with the discussion around the quality of life bonds before the April election, Mayor TenHaken will propose a Rec Center be built at that location, ironically what was originally going to go there. If Paul and the City Council can sell the public on the idea (even though they will probably just force it on us like they did with Jacobson Plaza) that means an indoor facility may NOT be built at another location therefore reducing the size of the bonds this Spring which were estimated to be around $80 million. Basically Paul would be proposing to kick that can down the road.
I think the location would be great for a rec center, but as councilor Neitzert pointed out at a recent public meeting, why is the city competing with private gyms?
But TenHaken wants us to know, we are big and bold;
“The reason it’s been quiet is my administration wants the community to think really big and bold, and not just about one parcel of land but a bigger 2050 vision for the community and how the Riverline can be a piece of that.”
LMFAO! The reason you are keeping it quiet is why you keep everything quiet, to slip one past us, or at least try to. The project took the public approach at fruition and got told they didn’t want a baseball stadium, so now everything is done in secrecy. There will be NO bold vision, just another taxpayer bailout to some developer or contractor who feeds at the trough of city hall.
Next time, Paul should probably just let his communications staff write his responses so he can concentrate on his ‘global solutions’ like pumpkin recycling and jumping jacks with the kids, because you know what they say, ‘It takes a village’ and unfortunately that includes the ‘idiot’ to.