As president of the SD Municipal league Vernon is promoting the silly 1 cent sales tax increase city option. He had this to say about it on his website;
South Dakota Municipal League will be asking lawmakers for a major philosophical shift: a temporary sales tax option for special projects. The League’s success in unlocking the state’s financial handcuffs on cities will largely come from the effectiveness of your community’s story. In this case, the smaller the town, the bigger the impact will be, especially when it comes to necessary infrastructure. Here are a few things to consider as you develop your local story:
Handcuffs? Besides last year, the city of SF has enjoyed RECORD sales tax revenue. With that much money coming in you would think we would be driving on streets of gold. It is estimated that in just 7 years the city has spent over $100 million on ‘quality of life’ projects. Or as I like to call them ‘wants’. If city leaders would have been a little wiser over those 7 years we could have put millions in the bank to pay for things like an events center, but instead the city engaged in reckless spending, and now they want to continue their spend fest by increasing taxes. I have often commented that people are not against an Events Center, they just want the city to spend within their means and show some fiscal restraint, especially with a project of this magnitude. I hope the 1 cent sales tax increase has a fast death in Pierre.
Councilor Staggers says the solution to building a new events center is simple, don’t do it by increasing taxes;
No increase in the city sales tax. Most City Council members want to raise the sales tax in Sioux Falls to 7% for an events center. This tax increase would take an additional $50 million out of the pockets of citizens and give it to the city government to spend. The citizens would have less money to spend at a time when economists are calling for consumers to spend more money in order to get the economy out of recession. Furthermore, since the sales tax is a very regressive tax, any increase in the sales tax would further impoverish the poor and low income families in the midst of a recession.
No increases in taxes and no annual operating subsidy for a new events center.Common sense and fairness dictate that a new events center should be paid for by those people who use it. Likewise, if you do not use the facility, you should not pay for it. A new events center should only be supported if there are no increases in taxes and no annual operating subsidy.
He also comments on what our current taxes should be paying for;
Increase spending on city streets and highways. The city is playing catch up in its street maintenance program. The city’s promise of the 1980s that the second penny sales tax would be used for streets must be reaffirmed and honored. This means more of the second penny sales tax must be spent on streets and highways.
Vernon said the sales tax increase would be “a temporary sales tax option for special projects”. Honestly… where has Vernon been the last decade?
We all know that the second our city council is allowed to increase the sales tax by a penny, they will do so, and we all know they won’t repeal that tax increase when the new Events Center is paid for. Instead, they will find another pet project, and then another, and yet another… on an on and on all the while patting themselves on the back for all the wonderful “quality of life” improvements they have made on the backs of the working class.
We have heard from council members on how “they can’t wait to increase the sales tax”… that should tell us everything we want to know. It seems like Vernon just isn’t paying attention.
People forget that this happened many years ago when a penny was added for street repair. Just as gambling revenue that was promised for schools ended up in the general revenue account, the same thing happened to that street repair money.
Extra tax for special projects? What about saving money from the extra taxes to pay for these projects? Egad what a concept in government!
No new taxes. It’s the worst mistake in a down economy. This is just a way to raise taxes and make it permanent. Forget about an events center. It will take years for the next mayor to clean up Mumbling Munson’s make myself rich schemes.
I just watched the results of the City Survey (I will post later). The citizens rated everything pretty good, but there was two negatives. Only 32% thought we had good roads and citizens thought that our city government doesn’t listen very well, I think they got like a 40% rating on that.
Oh, and only 922 responded and it was mailed (twice) to 3000 residents.
We all know that the second our city council is allowed to increase the sales tax by a penny, they will do so, and we all know they won’t repeal that tax increase when the new Events Center is paid for. Instead, they will find another pet project, and then another, and yet another… on an on and on all the while patting themselves on the back for all the wonderful “quality of life†improvements they have made on the backs of the working class.
~cos
Oh Oh. We totally agree on something cos. Means only one thing. This proposal, if it gets past Pierre, has no chance of getting by the voters next November.
I doubt it will get through Pierre. State legislators are conscious of the population. Sioux Falls government is an imagined world ruled by one wizard with little regard for munchkins or fear of flying monkeys.
Except in the Land of Oz they had actual streets of gold. We don’t.