Okay, I am NOT shocked, the mayor will only promote ‘positive’ numbers and if anything ‘negative’ is coming from city hall he keeps that information under lock and key. The irony of releasing this information today is just two days ago, city attorney Loophole David Fiddle-Faddle said NO details of a closed settlement would be released on the EC siding fiasco. We have our speculation why that is . . . cough . . . the city f’d up . . . cough, cough. But isn’t it amazing that SMG & our city finance office were able to get together and show us all these flashy numbers yet no audit has been done on construction costs? How’s the saying go? “Dazzle them with Bullshitâ€.
By the Numbers
$117,000,000: Cost of Premier Center construction
$115,000,000: Amount approved by Sioux Falls voters
$1.3-$2.9 million: Anticipated annual net income ahead of 2011 election
$1.8 million: Actual net income through July 31
$19.6 million: Anticipated annual revenues ahead of 2011 election
$21.7 million: Actual revenue*
$1.6 million: Sales taxes generated for state and city*
220,169: Attendance for the 2015 Sioux Falls Stampede hockey season.
64,674: Attendance for the 2015 Sioux Falls Storm football season.
*Through July 31
Actually, starting numbers are good to better than expected. Can this continue so that bonds are paid? What especially troubles me is city finance cooking the books and the city attorney blessing liability. One must remember this is not a business. There’s no reported loss because there’s no cost of doing business. There’s no tax liability and no maintenance cost. For a real CEO, this is a failure he should look promising but find a golden parachute out from.
Stock holders get rooked. Citizens get snookered. One is risk. The other is a con.
Wait til all have had enough country and iTunes 9.0 sucked up the extra income therefore no more country. The rockers are dropping like flies. Who the hell will come to SF Sd for squat. Elvis impersonators. Yeah can’t wait. I’d pay $5 to see one. Free at granite falls with a great meal or flandreau. Sioux Falls is gonna bust sooner than later
They keep saying net income and leaving out the word operating. Net income is profit after all expenses including debt service. Net operating income is profit before taking out debt service. There is a huge difference. Saying net income is a huge lie designed to mislead people. We are paying 9 million a year in debt service. If we make 2 or 3 million in net operating income we are still several million in the hole. The events center is not making money nor will it ever. If you believe it is worth the cost for the quality of life it provides that is an honorable subjective opinion. Misleading the public to make it appear it is in the black is not. It’s cynical and underhanded.
Greg gives details and proper perspective laymen nor the council admits or understands.
Perhaps our businessman mayor will reinvent himself as a demigod televangelist once he loses in state politics. Indeed, Denny Dome could become his worldwide ministry’s center and Swim Fox the site for mass baptisms. After rockers die, sell god to the groupies. Now we’re talking real tax exempt profit.
Greg N. comments in this KELO story say it all;
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/residents-talk-about-metal-siding-settlement/?id=185254
“The sad truth is the city can’t fix the siding now, because they’d have to then admit that the cost to fix or replace the siding will be well more than 1 million dollars. They would then have to come to the council to appropriate tax dollars to fix a problem they promised taxpayers wouldn’t get stuck with. So they’ll leave it on until the current Mayor and leaders are long gone and let someone else deal with it down the road. Pass the buck. The other sad truth is that if we had leadership who cared at all about transparency and accountability, they would have demanded as part of the settlement that all of the facts come out. But they didn’t care, and even more they have every reason to keep this confidential. State law allows settlements to be confidential, but it does not REQUIRE it. The original siding contractor, who balked at installing the siding on the west end of the events center, told them it wasn’t going to work, but the city apparently ignored the warning and found another contractor (closely linked to Mortenson the prime contractor) who would do it. It was obvious as it was going up it wasn’t working (metal being forced to bend without being formed isn’t going to), but they mashed it on anyway. Common sense, and the affadavit of the original siding contractor, dictates that the city knew full well this wasn’t going to work, but did it anyway. When the council finally asked about it, the city at every turn refused to be transparent about any of it and has done so to this day, refusing to allow the council or citizens to know anything. Then the city smeared the local contractor publicly and withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments for work that contractor had done (on the roof, etc), as leverage. That local contractor didn’t even install the siding in question on the west end – in fact they raised the alarms when they did mock ups that showed it wouldn’t work based on what we know. Never did the city mention the other contractor brought in by Mortenson who actually messed up the siding. They aren’t even listed in the settlement. There are countless questions that citizens deserve answers to, but our city has actively worked to thwart any information to come out, and has succeeded. As part of the settlement no party can ever talk about it. Nothing will ever come out, and the city and Mortenson will never have to admit any fault. In essence, you the citizen are asked to pay for the events center, but you are not allowed to know anything about “our” events center. Remember that the next time the Mayor or another city official says its “our” event center. They don’t mean its the citizens, they mean its literally there’s. Its reprehensible.”
Greg is right but lengthy. Isn’t the proper recourse obvious? It’s another delineation from responsibility. It’s everyone’s fault but the business man mayor. It got built but will cost more to fix than doing it right the first time. Everyone profited except the people. They paid for it and will pay to fix it but none can afford to attend. It’s a drag on city budget that should have been directed toward improving the lives of the working class.