We have officially known for weeks the city intends to withdraw a $70 million dollar bond, we have known this amount since October unofficially. So if you know what you are going to spend for months and months, that tells me you know exactly what is being purchased with that amount. There of course is talk of an indoor facility and an outdoor facility. There is also some rumors floating around about some ‘ideas’ thrown into the mix.
So what is the city hiding?
The current city council, in which 4 of them are leaving in May, have requested to vote on the bonds before the May 21st meeting where the new councilors are installed.
• The city has known since last Fall the price tag of the bonds (a number that was likely concocted by the bonding company, and not the city or engineers.)
• They haven’t released details of what we are getting for the money yet.
• Parks Board plans to review the bonds and approve them around April 15 or later. The council won’t get a PUBLIC presentation of the details of the bonds until April 30 (even though they already know what’s in them) and then will have to do a first and second reading before the last meeting of this council on May 14th. Essentially giving citizens only a few weeks to digest $70 million in bonds that there will be NO public vote on (we really should have voted on the bonds since there is already an election, such a missed opportunity . . . but when you are a closed government militant, this is how things are done.)
As for the rumors, I won’t comment because some of the things being said are so ludicrous, I doubt the administration is exploring them, but you never know.
So like the Delbridge Animals secret, the administration is sitting on the details of the bonds. Why? Because the are likely trying to hide something, and even if a couple of the rumors are true, something is going to hit the fan, and it won’t be dead monkey crap.
*I was also told last night that the city subsidizes the Midco to the tune of $1.2 million a year (it costs $2.2 to operate and they collect $1 million in fees.) And that is just an indoor pool. Can you imagine what it will cost to operate one or two more of these facilities that also include a fitness area and pools? The mayor also intends to purchase the Riverline District property from Lloyd in the 2025 budget ($8 or $9 million) and plans to push for a $300 million dollar bond in 2029 for a new Convention Center. Not sure where the city is going to get the tax revenue to pay off all this stuff, but it is starting to become ridiculous. There is ZERO economic benefit to the bottom line of the average taxpayer. A better way to spend that money is to build a modern public transit system that hooks into the Airport and Passenger rail service. The impact of people from rural towns in the midwest coming to Sioux Falls for shopping and recreation would be a much greater impact then 4-5 conventions a year.