UPDATE: As several peeps have told me the real reason to hold off Aquatics bond is to scare people into voting against the food tax cut. They will make the argument we can’t have ‘nice things’ if the food tax cut passes. This is a slimy political game, but not surprising. Paul is a political hack and has always been one. If you handed me the budget book and gave me 4 hours I could cut $200 million from next year’s budget and NO ONE in this town would miss that money. Why? Because it is spent on play things, non deserving non-profits and bailouts to developers. Do what the rest of us do when you have less revenue coming in . . . you SPEND LESS! It’s called ‘budgeting’. Wonder if the city has ever heard of this?
I often tell folks there is ONE thing TenHaken is good at, kicking the can. In fact, I am guessing instead of jumping jacks he plays kick the can with the kids during his Mayoral PE classes.
The city council was supposed to have an informational today, but it was canceled. So I texted a city councilor to see what was up, they said;
The administration has decided to delay the aquatics bond until after the general election. One reason cited was uncertainty over the sales tax and the grocery tax effect on revenue, if it is eliminated.
Which is interesting considering cities will still have the ability to charge sales taxes on food. It also makes you wonder where the city’s finances are now and if they are just going to squander the money for the Riverline District.
Either/or, this is really bad leadership considering the hours staff, consultants, volunteers, councilors, etc. have spent on this project.
So when Paul is faced with a challenge, he puts on his sh!t kickers and kicks that can down the road, because as he would say, “I’m over it.”
I don’t think he is kicking the can at all. Actually, it’s a strategic move. Hold the aquatics bond over the heads of Sioux Falls voters, while they decide how to vote on the grocery tax, in an effort to sway some votes to his side. It’s a purely emotional play, and that works almost every time.
The city is known for follys citizens don’t need or want. They built an indoor bathhouse for rich kids but refuse new outdoor pools in poor neighborhoods. The poor need relief from inflation in the form of eliminating tax on food. No doubt funds for pools could come from not awarding gifts to developers. TenHaken is King of this Autocracy (Home Rule Charter). There’s no play book. He spends or doesn’t unrestricted and impulsively favoring insiders and elite. Why is it that mayors leave office public funds millionaires?
Tell us you want a state income tax without telling us you want a stare income tax.
[…] have a clue about then wait about 12-24 hours while the media crafts a story around one of my blog posts. Which I updated yesterday at 2 PM but was originally posted late Tuesday night. My first comment […]
We already have a state income tax. It’s called our historically inherent low wages.
In South Dakota, we have unique names for our taxes, like the corporate income tax on banks, which we like to call the franchise tax.
( and Woodstock adds: “Oh, you mean like how the Bunk(h)er Ramp is more than a debacle…. Because it’s actually a “tax burden”?….. )