Update: I guess I am not the only one that sees the scam taking place;
Sioux Falls, like most cities in the United States, is running a growth Ponzi scheme. A classic Ponzi scheme involves someone who promises investors a high return on their investment. But, if the investment is not generating revenue, they turn to signing up new investors and using that money to pay the original investors. This may work for awhile but eventually the scheme collapses and investors lose their money.
First off, you DO NOT want to go down that path as a city, once you get behind the 8-Ball there ain’t no coming back. Many cities across the country who have done this have bankrupt themselves.
On Tuesday at the informational meeting the finance director (even though lately he seems to be working for the Riverline investors and NO on Grocery Tax campaign) said the city achieved a new bond rating. After I talked to a few folks I found out they have been pursuing this rating for years so they can BORROW and BOND for NEEDED infrastructure, like ROADS.
Why would the city want to do that? Because it frees up the 2nd penny for bond payments on play palaces. Take the proposed Convention Center. The bond payments on that project will be $40 Million+ a year for 30 years. Thru August of this year the 2nd penny has only collected $60 million. Let’s say we hit $100 million for the year. That would leave us very little for road repairs. Not to mention all the other debt service.
There is another option, a 3rd penny, which is a hard sell.
You never ever want to borrow for road projects while spending money on crap we don’t need. If this Convention Center passes it will bankrupt this city without another special tax to cover it.
WE MUST STOP THIS INSANITY NOW!
There are options. Citizens or the City Council can refer an ordinance to voters in the next election that would require any bonds over a certain amount (let’s say $30 million for reference) would go to a LEGAL STATE BOND election which requires a 60%+1 passage and not this silly fake advisory vote that the councilors keep parroting. The citizens NEVER approved the Denty, the city council did.
This could work and I think citizens would have 6 months to collect the sigs. Let’s put a stop to this stupidity while we still can.