Fire & Water? I would have named it Oil and Vinegar.
• There will be no new taxes or increased taxes to pay for the new Events Center project.
Nope. Just the shifting of fees from the 2nd penny into rates, which continue to be increased, EVEN before this project is approved.
• The City of Sioux Falls plans to provide the down payment.
From where? Reserves? Aren’t reserves for emergencies like backed up sewers?
• Private funding will also be raised, through naming rights, sponsorships and donations. The City of Sioux Falls estimates this to be between 15 and 25 percent.
Less then 3 months away from the vote, and we have yet to see one single sponsorship. Shouldn’t this be secured before the vote happens?
• A significant portion of this project will be funded by Sioux Falls sales tax bonds, and the Events Center project will be included in the city’s five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Try THE ENTIRE PORTION will be funded by bonds.
They also like to spread this rumor;
• Multiple reports in the past 10 years, including the most recent study performed, have indicated the direct and indirect economic impact of an Events Center in Sioux Falls to be around $50,000,000 million dollars annually.
And where will people be spending that $50 million a year in our community? Flying into our international airport, staying at our many luxurious hotels or eating at one of our fine dining establishments by the Arena?
UPDATE: Looks like the CVB is going to do a little ‘spreading’ of their own;
Betsy Homan is not the daughter of SF Super Pam Homan when she is punched in at her job at STI.
As South DaCola reported (due to a tip from a reader) there seems to be some questionable nepotism going on in the SF School District. Well, Stormland to the rescue;
SIOUX FALLS, SD – Superintendent Pam Homan is facing new questions about whether she’s following district policy after her daughter was hired to work at Southeast Technical Institute.
According to the Nepotism policy, no one can be hired that would be supervised by an immediate family member. Further, no member of the Superintendent’s immediate family can be hired in any continuing capacity by the district.
Seems pretty cut and dry to me. Nepotism.
Alberty says it is not a violation of policy because while Southeast Tech is governed by the Sioux Falls School Board, which approves hires, he says it operates essentially as a separate entity and has a separate nepotism policy, which gives Southeast Tech’s president employee authority.
According to the organizational chart for Southeast Tech, Holcomb reports to Homan, who reports to the school board.
Once again. Pretty cut and dry. Nepotism.
When we asked Homan to comment for this story, we received an email from a staffer saying in this matter, policy speaks for itself.
It sure does. It is nepotism. But will the school board do anything about it? Probably not, that would require them to cut their apron strings from Homan and the district’s attorneys. And once again, Pammy gets away with bending the rules to her benefit.
I hope Mr. Ekholm never sells his land, especially to Walmart. Scenes like this hurt my eyes.
I watch all the city council meetings, even if there isn’t any important items on the agenda, because usually something interesting comes up. Last night was no different (Click on Item #39 to FF – 44:32 minutes). Property owner James Ekholm was looking to get his property taxes reduced after a land sale deal fell through with Walmart. Basically Walfart told Mr. Ekholm they wanted to buy his farmland to build a new Walmart. Mr. Ekholm got the land annexed for commercial development (which raised his property taxes) and Walmart then turned around and said they were not interested. A part of me feels bad for Mr. Ekholm, but at his age, he should know by now how Walmart and other corporate critters do business, they shit on you every chance they get. Mr. Ekholm was thinking his ship finally came in and was going to get the big Walfart money, and found out the hard way, it doesn’t always work that way. Either way, Mr. Ekholm still stands to make some money from the land, it is still annexed and he could sell it to anyone for commercial development. So his problem? His tax bill went up about $4,000 a year from what he was previously paying. Of course it did, he annexed it for commercial development. I’ll hand it to the city council, all eight councilors voted NO to the property tax reduction. And for good reason. Imagine if they would have given Mr. Ekholm the reduction? You would have seen a bevy of developers asking for reductions on land they have not developed yet.
Suck it up Mr. Ekholm. Your ship will come in eventually. Meanwhile if you are looking to save money may I suggest this fine discount store . . .