If you watch the city council informational meeting today you will see a presentation on the city’s reserves;
The city has over $80 million in reserves and many councilors questioned why it was so high. Of course the finance director did his best telling councilors we needed to have record reserves to save for a rainy day (or a derecho).
There are two reasons why we are at this point, the first one is the obvious flush of Federal money. As I understand it the city had many projects planned with our own capital before the pandemic and once the money started flowing in the city started allocating ARPA money to these projects instead of city capital. We can argue all we want about the ethics of that kind of budgeting, but I think the public is really in the dark about how this works. Of course the finance director started questioning the Federal bailouts and blaming them for massive inflation which is hilarious coming from a dude who gladly cashed the Fed’s checks.
The second reason we have record reserves is that we are being overtaxed. This of course was NOT brought up by the finance director during the meeting but councilor Neitzert touched on it by saying there is a perception that the city is hoarding money and they shouldn’t be doing that.
This has been my argument all along against increasing city property taxes every year. The city has the revenue, but more importantly with our population and development growth (almost $2 billion last year) there is no reason to increase these taxes and fees due to natural economic growth.
So why are we in this position? Because of indiscriminate tax rebates and TIFs to developers. If we eliminated this high-end socialist welfare system to wealthy developers we could keep our property taxes down.
We also need to stop giving money away to play palaces.
We can’t on one hand and say we are in dire straits then turnaround and throw millions away on amenities and wants. We are either one or the other. The city coffers are NOT a savings account, they collect fees and taxes and spend them on the social welfare of our city.
If I were a city councilor I would propose a one-time city property tax rebate and chip away at the city’s trough.
the city will claim they aren’t raising taxes, it’s just that your home is worth more.
They should take some of the money and build a pothole command center where people could call in 24/7 to complain about potholes, then pothole repair people could be sent out at all hours of the day to fill the potholes. I could imagine a command center with big smart TVs on the walls showing the fillers at work, while a commander shouts out more orders from the center like a general from NORAD.
Maybe we could buy some new siding, huh?
What about an outdoor pool for the Spellerberg folks?
Place a diverging diamond intersection in one of the old neighborhoods just for the fun of it.
Perhaps, we should restore the once West Sioux Hardware store and turn it into a history center of learning about West Sioux and the Entertainment District/Sports Authority area.
What about building a light rail system which runs down the middle of Minnesota Avenue from the penitentiary area and then into Taupeville to help establish the One Sioux Falls agenda?
Or, we could use the money to build some government run boutique grocery stores. Then, once this takes off, we could franchise this concept and make even more money for the city’s coffers.
What about finishing the Bunker Ramp project? It wouldn’t cost that much. It could be a vacant hotel that just looks nice from the outside….. AND, then maybe the corn hole competition could be moved to a local bar.
Turn the soon to be vacated old penitentiary into expensive condos that look down upon Cherapa Place.
Is there any interest in a food truck and/or boutique museum?
Buy a big diaper for David, then hold a press conference there announcing the new education standards.
What about hiring for the city a Chief of Indifference and Aloofness to complement the ‘Tale of Two Cities’ theme around here?
Finally, new parapets, cornices, and balusters anyone?
It’s a county issue, state law allows for the residents of Sioux Falls to grab a specific % of the property tax dollars. Take it up with the county and how they evaluate the land values. The only thing tge city has to do with land values is local zoning which you can speak on as peoppe bring resolutions foward. The City not grabbing its full allowance of property taxes would ve doing tge residents a disfavor.
Mike, the city raises it’s percentage of property taxes every year because they can. I wasn’t talking about the county and school’s take.
Speaking of grocery stores I heard on Stormland TV last night that there may be a new one in the Cherapa complex. Did someone say ‘Trader Joes’?
Cherapa is becoming a factory town. Development there tends to be at the whim of the socialist developer.
80 million is a lot but the city budget is half a billion. In good conscience, give it to the county. They balance their budget and need more for social welfare. Has the city run out of insane foolish project ideas? There’s a city between Las Vegas and Reno that’s prepared for extraterrestrials. They built a flying saucer airport with a searchlight. The FM station has sci-fi music and interviews. People wave on the street with the Spock signal.
Build a UFO airport. Maybe redesign the bunker ramp. I can’t believe a city director hasn’t had this idea and all others in his cult approved.
Just want to point out that I am keeping my end of “tge” deal.
Trader Joes’ is finally coming to Sioux Falls? But what about that 19 story skyscraper and the new facade for Wells Fargo, any more word on those two projects?…. Maybe some of this 80 million could also be used to build a roof over the Bunker Bridge to give it a ‘Madison County’ feel…. I could imagine it then being a big hit with the local Amish and Hutterite crowds around here…. AND, then maybe they could turn that area into an annual festival scene to further help develop our local tourism trade…
(….. And the Hutterite says to the Amish guy: “Say, isn’t this the area of town where they used to build augers?”…. And the Amish guy replies: “What’s an auger?”….. )
But we already have an UFO airport here. Didn’t you get the memo?…. (Jeez, maybe he isn’t a part of the chosen.)
ironically, Niezert has voted to increase the city portion every time it has been brought before him. he’s not been alone. mr. z, this city rate increase has nothing to do with the valuation of the property…it is, in fact, a rate increase.
i didnt think people in sf bought food to take home and cook, what a concept