Jeff Barth

Water Rates going up? That’s news to me.

Apparently Councilor Rick Kiley has a crystal ball, because he is predicting our water and sewer rates are going up;

“They foresee a possible increase of about $2 per month for a family of five,” city councilor Rick Kiley said.

Kiley says the city knew this day was coming.

“You never want to raise rates, but in a situation like this where we are at 82% capacity today, we have a community that’s growing by 5,000 people every year and we are bringing on regional customers in addition to that it’s the prudent thing to do now is to expand our existing facilities,” Kiley said.

The city council will be voting on the funding this project when it passes the city budget in October.

While I agree we need to fix up a 1980’s water treatment plant, if we didn’t switch the rates over to enterprise funds we could easily pay the bonds with 2nd penny CIP revenue without raising fees. But see, former mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut wanted to free up the 2nd penny from paying for silly old water pipes, and use it for paying down bonds for monument building.

So now our taxes are going up for a new jail, and Minnehaha county admitted at their Tuesday meeting (Commissioner Barth) that there will likely be another opt out, put that on top of a 25 year around $300 million dollar new school bond and our already existing $300 million city debt, and things are going to get a lot more expensive in Sioux Falls, including taking a dump.

TenHaken already breaks a Former Mayor’s record in first week

During the Minnehaha County Commission meeting, Jeff Barth cracks a funny after Mayor TenHaken addresses the commission on ‘working together’. TenHaken mentions he already has had lunch with Chair Heiberger and wants to meet with the rest of the commissioners and promises to come to joint meetings.

After his testimony, Barth says, “You have already tied the previous mayor’s record for such a (lunch) meeting (with Cindy).” In which the crowd busts up in laughter, and Cindy replies, “He has already broken the record by one.”

Remember Former Mayor Coors Light & Olives stopped going to joint county/council meetings early in his 1st term after he realized he wasn’t in charge at the meetings.

Minnehaha County Commissioner Barth calls out city for denial of crime increases

Funny how our Governor, Attorney General and County Sheriff have admitted to the drastic crime growth in our City and State but our own police department seems to be in denial;

The incredible addictive nature of Methamphetamine has led to a 50 percent increase in meth arrests here in Minnehaha County. Fifty percent in just three years.

Some Sioux Falls leaders deny there is a crime issue. Yes, some arrests are down, but murder, shootings, stabbings and assault are up. Failing to admit the problem helps nobody.

As citizens, we need to demand better. We need treatment for users, bigger prisons for dealers and help for mental health issues. That will cost money, but denial and early release put you and your children at risk.

When the country of Portugal changed their drug policy to full legalization and resources spent on treatment VS. incarceration they saw a drastic decline in addiction. Who figured?

Its time to allow micro-breweries in SD to distribute their own beer, and, time to raise the alcohol tax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7v0V58V3Uw

I know what you are thinking, a few contradictions there, but not really. I have often believed a tax hike in alcohol would actually help the bar business and give property tax payers a little relief from paying for criminals.

First the distribution issue. Distributors are clearly fighting this because of greed. But they have their excuses;

Distributors, meanwhile, said allowing craft breweries to work as producer, distributor and retailer in some capacity could create problems for the state in collecting tax revenue and for consumers in ensuring their beer meets quality standards.

Breweries would still be paying taxes and as for the quality issue, that is silly. Distributors ARE NOT testing the quality of the product, if they were Coors Light would no longer be available ๐Ÿ™‚ This is clearly a way for distributors to reap a commission for basically doing nothing but acting like a keg taxi. Distributors would still be in the picture anyway for mass distribution. All brewers are asking is to brew more beer and sell it from their locations.

As for increasing the alcohol tax, I agree 100% with Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth that it is silly that property tax payers are footing the bill for crimes related to alcohol. I think if alcohol taxes increase, liquor stores and bars will charge more, which in turn could mean bigger profits and less consumption, which means less crime. MPR has a great story about this.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the cost of excessive alcohol use is $2.05 per drink รขโ‚ฌโ€ costs that create financial burdens for federal, state and local governments.

“Currently, federal and state taxes do not even come close to covering those costs,” said Dr. Timothy Naimi, author of a recent article study on state alcohol excise taxes. “Public health is a strong rationale for alcohol taxation. … If we don’t recover the costs related to alcohol sales, then it amounts to a subsidy for people who drink, and who drink excessively.”

I don’t think the habits of casual drinkers would change with a tax increase, but I do think it would help to curb reckless drinking.