Update: I guess I am not the only one that sees the scam taking place;

Sioux Falls, like most cities in the United States, is running a growth Ponzi scheme. A classic Ponzi scheme involves someone who promises investors a high return on their investment. But, if the investment is not generating revenue, they turn to signing up new investors and using that money to pay the original investors. This may work for awhile but eventually the scheme collapses and investors lose their money.

First off, you DO NOT want to go down that path as a city, once you get behind the 8-Ball there ain’t no coming back. Many cities across the country who have done this have bankrupt themselves.

On Tuesday at the informational meeting the finance director (even though lately he seems to be working for the Riverline investors and NO on Grocery Tax campaign) said the city achieved a new bond rating. After I talked to a few folks I found out they have been pursuing this rating for years so they can BORROW and BOND for NEEDED infrastructure, like ROADS.

Why would the city want to do that? Because it frees up the 2nd penny for bond payments on play palaces. Take the proposed Convention Center. The bond payments on that project will be $40 Million+ a year for 30 years. Thru August of this year the 2nd penny has only collected $60 million. Let’s say we hit $100 million for the year. That would leave us very little for road repairs. Not to mention all the other debt service.

There is another option, a 3rd penny, which is a hard sell.

You never ever want to borrow for road projects while spending money on crap we don’t need. If this Convention Center passes it will bankrupt this city without another special tax to cover it.

WE MUST STOP THIS INSANITY NOW!

There are options. Citizens or the City Council can refer an ordinance to voters in the next election that would require any bonds over a certain amount (let’s say $30 million for reference) would go to a LEGAL STATE BOND election which requires a 60%+1 passage and not this silly fake advisory vote that the councilors keep parroting. The citizens NEVER approved the Denty, the city council did.

This could work and I think citizens would have 6 months to collect the sigs. Let’s put a stop to this stupidity while we still can.

By l3wis

5 thoughts on “Update: Is the city planning on borrowing for NEEDED infrastructure?”
  1. Didn’t Munson do something like this back in about 2007, when they decided to resurface a bunch of streets in town with borrowed money? Because, remember, Loila only wanted the second penny to go to roads. #PennyLane #1983

  2. Scott is right, in 2013, the voters voted only on the Location of a future Event Center to be priced at $99 million dollars. There was no vote related to the spending plan, or bond vote. IT was strictly on location, price tag, and desire. IF it was the $99,000,000 million dollar Bond + Finance Charges, the outcome would have required 60% super majority vote of the electors. (it is not 60%+1)….Alot of this crazy spending can be stopped if the people would put an initiative on the ballot to ‘restrict any financial plan of $25,000,000 or greater to a public vote. This would also resolve Scott’s biggest concern TIF’S – since many of these TIF projects require the city to set aside millions of tax dollars for future years. These rules need to be placed in the CHARTER.

    There should be a set of Bill of Rights in our Charter also, one being, for those “Residents” who wish to donate land, buildings, or any such asset aka Brockhouse Taxidermy to the city to be used as a community asset. Put in the charter that the City Government cannot sell, transfer, nor dispose of any such items in the future. A GIFT or DONATION is still property of the former owner, not the city, and should remain a public asset as long as they so choose.

  3. I’m impressed. Since the criticism by this blog, and even by some of my comments on this blog, the Dakota (War College) Scout has now released its third story placing in bad light a South Dakota Republican leader or family member with its story about Lt. Governor Rhoden’s son getting into trouble at the RNC. Even the Argus acknowledged that the D(WC)S was the first with the story…. So, all I can say to this is, keep it up! 🙂 #Narcissism #RepublicanRag(?)

    https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2024/09/17/sd-gop-executive-director-reggie-rhoden-charged-for-disorderly-conduct/75268837007/

  4. “Say, did you guys see where the Republicans now have a black Nazi amongst their ranks?”…. ( ….. “Wow, even the Republicans are now beginning to practice identity politics”…. 🙁 )

  5. The city has a billion dollar annual budget. It’s an exorbitant disgusting waste for a population of 200k. Projects cost double and contractors come back for more money and time. The NYC mayor and council are being FBI investigated. Why not here? Now, the intent seems to be taking the city into bankruptcy. Greed is reserved for corporations and organized crime. Why is Sioux Falls city government not the same? When will the mayor go to jail?

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