I just about fell out of my chair when a city official sent me this;
Aquatic Subsidies for 2019
Total $2,335,028
Indoor $794,913 Â Â 34% of the subsidy
Outdoor $1,540,115Â Â 66% of the subsidy
*2019 financials are not final until after the Audit is completed.
We were originally told that the yearly subsidy for the MAC would be around $400K, it is almost double that. We were also told that it would be so popular that that subsidy would possibly get smaller the longer it was open. Not the case. Just imagine if the Sanford Sports Complex opens an indoor pool, than what will happen? I said before it opened that it was in the wrong location, it didn’t include other stuff like a fitness area, it was too small and didn’t have enough space for expansion. It also has a lot of private competition. As predicted, the MAC will be a yolk around the taxpayers necks for years to come.
I go by there several times a week. There’s more activity than I expected. As usual, the city uses underestimated financial detail. It’s on purpose so that a project meets approval criteria. It’s in the wrong location and over budget. It’s another Pavilion, Orpheum, State Theater, Parking Ramp thing. Another failure because it’s an inflated public money project that makes no sense. There are a few developers that can’t survive without such work. We’re lucky they’re not building private construction.
I’m a veteran. The city donated land for a national cemetery. They built a water therapy facility (MAC) on federal land. Thankyou for your ignorance.
Park Ridge, across from the MAC, is currently for sale for $6.8 million. The city should buy it for a fitness center, then acquire LifeScape’s new Elmwood Avenue parking lot, with then adjoining enclosed catwalks to all three locations.
Perhaps, an outdoor pool, too, would be, in order, where the “natural” retention pond is located beneath the Spellerburg ski slope, which should be better utilized, too, with a chateau that itself would have a enclosed catwalk to the nearby VA gift shop and concessions…. #AlwaysThinking… #AlwaysSpending…. #LikeTheCity
Oh, and a chateau catwalk should be linked to the Elmwood Avenue parking lot as well.
Does not fit our needs? Fits the needs of the swim club perfectly.
As of last year, all veterans and reservists can buy from base stores and mail order. Cheaper and NO SALES TAX. Finally, a way to not provide funds for city arrogant waste.
Daily Spin, what base store have you ever shopped at that was cheaper than buying on the economy? Not once in over 20yrs of living on and near bases did we very often choose shopping at AAFES or the commissary because it was cheaper bc they weren’t, by any means at all.
Anyway, the citizens of Sioux Falls need to quit being taken advantage of by the city officials and asked to fund all their pet projects. Time to start utilizing private donations and the companies own dollars who want to start programs and businesses in town. Enough is enough.