Ruf’s new blog
l3wis I read parts of it this morning, pretty funny stuff
August 2013
May I offer a better solution to counties across the state, MAKE CUTS!
Here we go again, another (SIN) tax idea from Jeff Barth and the Minnehaha CC;
County commissioners across the state have favored the idea. Jeff Barth says it’s legislation Minnehaha County has unsuccessfully lobbied on for years.
“Although they have plenty of money for drinking, they don’t have plenty of money to pay for defense attorneys, prosecutors, prison, and jail,†Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth said.
Barth says more and more the financial burden of offenses, including alcohol, is falling on counties who see no benefit from existing drink taxes. He believes any amount would ease the county coffers.
“Right now we’re looking at putting two additional floors on our county jail at a cost of $10 million and grandma isn’t drinking and driving. We’re going to make her pay,†Barth said.
While I am not entirely opposed to his idea, I often wonder when the county is in a financial bind they want to raise taxes without looking for cuts. Their lack of creativity is frustrating. They say everyone should pay more on alcohol taxes, even responsible drinkers. Well guess what? Why should I have to pay more in taxes because someone is irresponsible with alcohol? Good drivers get discounts on their car insurance, irresponsible drivers do not. It’s like telling people who drink in moderation and responsibly they need to pay for the ones that don’t. It’s not a fair form of taxation. If someone breaks the law and is irresponsible, you fine them. If they need more money for convictions and jails, they need to raise the fines, substantially, not taxes.
Other solutions;
1) While they have lobbied for years to get a bigger cut of state taxes, they need to lobby harder and demand a fair share. I will agree with them on this point, they are getting the shaft when it comes to sharing the tax revenue in our state.
2) Stop putting non-violent offenders in jail, fine them, bracelet them, garnish their wages, make them pay for rehab, court costs, attorneys, etc. but for god’s sake stop jailing them, it is a waste of taxpayer money. Jail is NOT rehabilitation and never will be. If you want to stop these people from becoming repeat offenders, offer them rehabilitation and hit them in the wallet.
3) Have a say in the TIF process with the city. While the city is handing out TIF’s like candy to already wealthy developers they are raising our property taxes on ‘grandmas’. If I can’t get a TIF to improve my home, developers shouldn’t get them either. I say put a stop to them altogether, they are literally draining millions of dollars from the property tax rolls every year, and developers are literally ‘cashing in’ on them.
4) Make cuts to unneeded programs, this is what responsible leaders do in a money pinch. I still remember shortly after the property tax opt-out was approved, the first thing the CC did was hand themselves a raise. This was one of the most irresponsible things I have ever seen a commission do.
I am sure there is about a 100 other ways to make cuts and improve tax revenue, but please stop running to the media every time you have a cost increase you need to alleviate. It lacks vision and quite frankly is fiscally irresponsible.
A couple of carnies get arrested for drugs, shocker!
I want the one with crack in it’s head!
Two Sioux Empire Fair carnival workers have been arrested after police intercepted a package containing 37 grams of crack cocaine.
On Saturday, Sioux Falls Police were tipped off by Texas authorities about a shipment of drugs that was headed to the area.
Police were able to intercept the package before it was delivered and found a Lalaloopsy doll inside. Inside the head of the doll was 37 grams of crack cocaine.
Police repackaged the doll and the drugs and delivered it to a southwest Sioux Falls hotel. The man who received the package claimed it was for a friend.
Authorities ultimately arrested both men, 35-year-old Louis Frank Deak of Lawton, Oklahoma and 55-year-old John Thomas Whitfield Jr. of Houston, Texas.
Police say both men worked in the ‘kiddie land’ area at the Sioux Empire Fair.
Deak and Whitfield face numerous drug charges and will be in court Monday afternoon.
“Mommy! Those two guys running Kiddie Land are really hyper, and a little sweaty!”
What does the (organization) Downtown Sioux Falls do?
I had this question recently asked of me, since I work at a DT business. They also asked if we had a membership. I said we canceled our membership a few years back for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons was they moved most of the festivals to 4th and Phillips, so we couldn’t put a booth in front of our store, besides the fee and commission DTSF would charge on the booth wasn’t profitable. Secondly, when we asked DTSF what they ‘do’ for the membership fee they said besides being listed in their magazine, they swept the sidewalks and watered plants (even though that stuff is city owned and will have to be maintained by the city anyway).
The inquirer was wondering why most of the DT restaurants were listed in their magazine and not ours. I said, they basically punish you for be not being a member by not listing you, which is silly on a couple of levels;
1) It makes DTSF and the magazine look inaccurate, people visiting SF from another city may be following the map in the magazine and asking themselves why certain restaurants are not listed.
2) We pay a membership fee to DTSF whether we want to or not. DT businesses pay a special property tax assessment that subsidizes DTSF. So even if you are not a ‘member’ of their organization, you are still ‘paying’ into them.
I have often argued that we should eliminate DTSF as an ‘organization’ and just sub-contract the magazine and website out to a marketing firm. Eliminate the memberships and just pay the tax assessment, and include ALL downtown businesses on the website and magazine (since they are ultimately paying a special tax to support the organization anyway.)
DTSF often reminds me of the SF Chamber of Commerce. I consistently here members of the Chamber complain about the ‘benefits’ of their membership, and what exactly are they?
Chamber’s and Neighborhood retail organizations across the country offer their members specials. Like discounted health insurance for their employees, or discounted liability insurance. Special leased discounted parking fees. Other cities also have several ‘festivals’ throughout the summer, almost every weekend. In Austin, Texas, for instance that has a DT strip about the same size as ours, closes off the main drag every Friday and Saturday and has a street party, something I have suggest DTSF tries for a summer.
Last year a couple of DT business owners protested the special tax assessment, and for good reason, they asked the question ‘What is the benefit?’
Good question.
The city doesn’t even give the Walmart at 85th a good compatibility rating
Check out page 61 (which breaks down the scoring) and page 62 which is the city’s compatibility matrix. Â These documents are found in the city’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan (CLICK: Â SHAPE-TRAN) Â
As you can see, putting C-4 commercial adjacent to low density single-family residential will score a 1 and is labeled highly incompatible. Â This was even noted on the planning department’s staff report during an earlier council meeting on this subject. Â Why is this important? Â Well, the green dot allowing C-4 in this area was designated in December of 2009. Â This was long after most of the people in Twin Eagle had already built their homes. Â Many in the city, the media, and this blog have asked “What were these people thinking?” when they built their homes along 85th Street?
The answer, many of these people consulted city planning maps that showed this area wouldn’t be developed for another 10 years or more when they built. Â Not one single resident expects this intersection to be anything but commercial, however there was no green dot there when they consulted those maps. Â To expect a restaurant, office park, gas station etc…is one thing, but a big box store like WM, Menards, Home Depot, Lowes, etc…No one expected them either after the green dot came in because of these two documents. Not to mention, this will be the largest retailer in the city, if not the state (185,000 square feet) and will be open 24/7.
To the comments about the likes on FB, it shouldn’t matter if there are 2,000 people who “like” SON’s site or just 1, the fact that the city can ignore the property rights of one person, who was there first, who relied on these documents and the city’s adherence to them is enough. Â If the city can simply pick and choose how it will apply these rules then everyone in Sioux Falls should be concerned. And we should be.
I remember a few years back I used to take a walk on my break at work, all year long. There was a certain retailer that never scooped their sidewalks, ever! They would just let people smash the snow down, which by the end of the season was about a 6″ sheet of ice. The irony, #1 was that they sold snowblowers, #2 they sold ice melt and #3 the city never forced them to clean the walk, or came out and cleaned and charged them. I will clarify this, the store was owned by a local family and was on a BUSY corner lot with tons of foot traffic, they are still there. Yet the city goes around charging residential citizens for cleaning sidewalks. My point? It is who you know in this town. Nevermind our little report above, WM and Lloyd have gobbs of money, we will just change the rules for them.
