South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

County Commission Lincoln County Minnehaha County Property Taxes SF City Council SF School District Sioux Falls

Property tax reduction program ‘Questionable’

l3wis 1Comments

The more we look into the property tax reductions over the past ten years, the more questions we have. While we are still researching this, some things that stick out so far;

DOC: Historical – Tax Reduction Program.pdf

Tax Reduction Program – Informational Jan. 8.pdf

How was the mayor(s) (Munson & Huether) able to sign off on these, through the Planning Department without the review of the city council? Or even the County Commissions and School District? Were there any state laws violated?

One of the biggest recipients was involved in many LLC’s and ownership groups related to Legacy Development. Ironically one of the persons who would have known about the reductions, Daren Ketchum, now works for Legacy.

Many of the recipients are long time established, successful Sioux Falls businesses, like Raven & Gage brothers. Why would they need tax incentives?

Some of the recipients also received TIFs on top of the reduction, for example Washington Square.

Ironically Midco received a 2018 reduction of $129K. This is just a year after announcing a sponsorship of our Aquatic Center.

Did the TenHaken administration decide to blow the lid off of this to 1) wash there hands of the practice and 2) to see if the media will do some digging around? COS Erica Beck worked in the Planning office when some of these reductions were handed out.

Like I said, we are still researching the ‘many’ connections between the reduction recipients and the previous administration and will have more findings coming soon.

Sioux Falls

UPDATE: City Hall to announce new arts programming w/fictional art group

l3wis 2Comments

I guess I have never heard of the ‘Sioux Falls Visual Arts Council’

There is a ‘Sioux Falls Arts Council’ and a ‘Sioux Falls Visual Arts Commission’ which is appointed by the mayor, but not sure what the above group is.

As I said to someone, “Probably another typo in a TJ Nelson press release.”

UPDATE: As suspected it was a TJ Typo, it is supposed to be SFAC.

Either way, members of the SFVAC told me they had no idea this was going on. Wouldn’t you have consulted the city’s own board on Visual Art?

Not sure if the SFAC knew about it, they can’t even show up to a city council meeting and ask politely for their $32K in funding.

Others have expressed concerns about drilling holes into the walls of a historical building.

I heard the first exhibit will be blown up photos of Paul’s selfies.

Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

Downtown Sioux Falls looking at more walkability

l3wis 9Comments

The meeting is tonight from 4-6 PM at Design Center (in between Mama Lada’s and Toy Store).

I think this is a great conversation to have.

An idea I have been pushing for well over a decade has consistently fell on deaf ears, and after seeing the sidewalks over packed with pedestrians this past summer on First Fridays, I think it is time to explore the idea.

Many cities (like Austin, TX) close off their downtown’s main drag on the weekends to vehicle traffic. I’m not suggesting to do the same in DTSF or as often, but I think we could try it on the first and last Friday and Saturday of the month for 3 months. Basically you would block 12th-11th, 11th-10th, and 10th-9th on Phillips so traffic could still go through on the East-West streets. You could bring in temporary picnic tables, food trucks and allow DT restaurants to sell to go street plates and drinks in plastic cups or cans. It would essentially be a big block party.

There would still be plenty of parking in the ramps and surrounding neighborhoods and most of all it would give people a reason to come DT and ‘WALK AROUND’ and explore.

I always thought moving GermanFest from that area was a horrible idea.

Like I said, I have been panning this for years, and I always get the same response – No reply.

Minnehaha County Sioux Falls

Is the State dropping the ball on property tax values?

l3wis 2Comments

I guess the rumor going around it that the counties across the state are waiting for the state information on property values. Counties need this information so they can collect property taxes. But what makes this important is that this time of the year (especially for ag land owners) they need to know what their property tax bill is before they file Federal Income taxes.

Here is an explanation from the County (FF: 1:07:30)

I guess the only excuse the state has is that they are ‘Short Handed’.

Maybe they can send Kennedy Noem over to help out?

SF City Council Sioux Falls

2019 Petition ‘Wish List’

l3wis 1Comments

As I mentioned in my 2019 predictions, I would like to see several petitions taken out this year. I feel if a citizen ran committee is put together we can write several petitions at once, and circulate them all at the same time to cut down on the circulation work. This of course is my ‘Dream List’. Not sure if the right amount of sigs could be gathered and if so, people would vote for them;

  1. Major Changes to the Home Rule Charter. I’m still on the fence about how much I would like to change Home Rule, but I do know that the city council needs to have more power. They need to be the one vetting all legislation and ordinance changes, and they need to be setting the budget, not the mayor.
  2. Basing water and sewer rates on inflation, not on whims.
  3. Ending the TIF program in Sioux Falls. As we saw again today, building permit records were broken again for the 6th year in a row. Development DOES NOT need subsidizing by the taxpayers, they are doing quite well on their own.
  4. Require Directors and Managers who work in Emergency positions within the city to be Sioux Falls Citizens.
  5. Elect the Parks Board to 4-year terms in districts. I would even be okay with paying them a per meeting supplement.
  6. Apply a ticket fee to every ticket sold at the Events Center. Not sure what would be reasonable, but I think $5 would be a good starting point, with a review of the fee every 2 years. The fee would be directly put in the CIP to go towards paying the EC bonds. While this may only generate $2-3 Million per year, its better than what we have now, which is $0.
  7. Require the city to trim boulevard trees. This is doable if you put it on a reasonable rotation. As we are seeing with the Emerald Ash problem, the city DOES have the resources to do this.
  8. Require the city to pay up to 50% of sidewalk repairs adjacent to boulevard. Citizen could pay for the remainder through a property tax increase over a period of 5 years.
  9. Make the city attorney position an elected position for a 4-year term with NO term limits. I think this would keep the attorney’s office from becoming a political pawn for the mayor, it would also help the council to get fair advice on legislation. This person would also have the power to hire their staff, such as assistant attorneys and paralegals.

This of course is my ‘wish list’. Let me know what you think we could add or change.

After watching the Charter Revision Commission this past year, I have lost all hope that they will put anything meaningful on the ballot. They seem to be interested in protecting government from its citizens, instead of the other way around. It’s sad really.

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