Minnehaha County Commissioner Dean ‘Chamber’ Karsky defends TIFs

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During the open discussion of the Minnehaha County Commission Meeting on Tuesday (FF:42:15) dean defended TIFs like they were his children. It started when Barth wanted to explain further his position in the newspaper.

Jeff said he wasn’t opposed to TIFs but wished the County Commission could make an independent decision about forgoing their share of tax money instead of the city just making that decision for them.

Dean, being the good Chamber of Commerce brown nosed soldier he is couldn’t let Jeff’s comments stand.

Dean started by peddling the half-truth that TIF’s ‘Don’t take away anything (from the county) because as he put it, “You can’t take away something you don’t have.” Well, Dean, maybe I should tell Pam Nelson that the next time I refuse to pay my property tax bill.

He went on to say he thinks TIF’s are a wonderful development tool AND incentive (yes, wonderful to the developer who gets a 13-14 year property tax break*) Does Lloyd who owns thousands of apartment units and pays more property taxes than anyone else in the County really need an ‘incentive’ to the develop? Is the company that destitute? Dean also claims that we don’t buy them the land. No, but with the Lloyd TIF we are really just giving it away. The TIF is $4.1 Million, soil cleanup is $3.1 million and the purchase price is around $900K. The way I look at it, they are getting the land for free.

Jeff responds to Dean that the city is pretty much ‘giving away’ the property (as I have pointed out) he also points out that if the city has these kind of assets/funds to give away, they could have cleaned up the soil themselves at their cost (as I have also pointed out in the past). Jeff sums up TIF’s by saying, “Tools that belong to the city that spite our interest.”

*It’s actually almost 25 years when you consider this property was supposed to be bought and developed by Lloyd over 10 years ago, instead the taxpayers of Sioux Falls sat on this land, collecting ZERO property taxes from it and essentially holding it for the Lloyd Companies. How would you like a 25 year property tax break? Think of all the upgrades you could do to your home?

UPDATE: Paulson decided to go down the harder road

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It seems John Paulson wants to run for the At-Large position being left empty by Rolfing instead of the Central District. I have also been told he may not have a choice since he doesn’t live in the Central District anyway. Either way, this will make the race for the Central District interesting with a race between many grassroots candidates.

UPDATE: Clara Hart also announced today she is running for At-Large against Paulson.

The candidate’s focus will be on “well-planned growth and finances, community investment and safety, strong neighborhoods and cohesive government.”

Now to find a challenger(s) to Paulson and all his BUZZ words that don’t mean anything, just like his tenure at Sanford. But he was a contender . . .

He was also a finalist for a seat on the Minnehaha County Commission. The seat was ultimately offered to Jean Bender.

. . . in a top-secret selection process. I had no idea he applied, that is because the Republican controlled Minnehaha County Commission kept that process top secret to the end.

I have a feeling that Paulson’s loss to Stehly is one of the reasons Rolfing is pushing for a change in the election threshold of candidates.

UPDATE: On Lalley’s show today Paulson said he does support the 51% threshold and thinks he could have beaten Stehly in a run-off. Maybe.

When Lalley asked him directly what one of his specific goals would be (special project, etc) while being on the council, he didn’t have a SPECIFIC project just that he wants the council to work more positively. This is probably one of the reasons Stehly beat Paulson and Nobles, Stehly had specifics what she wanted to accomplish on the council, they did not. AND she has stuck to those guns.

UPDATE: Minnehaha County Commission has NO objects to Lloyd TIF

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Erica Beck from Lloyd Companies with taxpayer compensated Dustin Powers (filled in for Brent) from the City of Sioux Falls did a presentation today to the Minnehaha County Commission about the proposed $4.4 million dollar TIF. (FF to 46:00)

Lloyd Companies is saying they need the TIF for cleanup. But, that is kind of a stretch. Whether they need to clean up contaminated soil OR not, they still have to dig a hole for a parking garage. Instead of the TIF for cleanup, I have suggested FREE tipping fees for the project – the entire project. This wouldn’t cost the taxpayers much and we would still be able to receive full property taxes (approximately $450,000 a year) instead of $8,000 a year for approximately the next 13 years (Life of TIF).

My other suggestion would be for the city to actually contract the removal of the contaminated soil before turning over the land. There would probably be some Federal EPA grants to do this.

Lloyd Companies is maintaining they NEED this TIF to do the project. I find this a little hard to swallow.

Not only did the County Commission NOT object to the project and TIF, commissioner Dean Karsky had to inform the public that Lloyd Companies are the largest property tax payer in the county. I’m not even sure how this equates to being able to get a tax discount. What this tells me is that they have attained an enormous amount of wealth and property, and can certainly float this $44 million dollar project without this corporate welfare. It’s like saying Bill Gates deserves to eat a free meal at the Banquet everyday because he has attained so much wealth.

Once again Karsky defends who butters his bread, the Chamber and their esteemed members.