Public Utilities
l3wis How long did Sioux Falls Public Works know about the $260 Million dollar water plant expansion
Several city councilors have told me they have known little about the water reclamation expansion until after Former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut left office. They have admitted that there was mention that the expansion WAS coming, but the price tag and water rate increases were NOT talked about.
The latest proposal is to increase our rates by 6% each year for the next 3 years and 3% every year after that. We will see how the council debates this proposal. My suggestion would be to bond $160 from the enterprise funds and $100 from the 2nd Penny to spread out the bond payment costs. In reality, the 2nd Penny should pay all of this since technically this is infrastructure/capital.
It is very curious that the pricetag was NOT talked about in the final months of the last administration’s term. Did he ask his Public Works director and finance department to embargo the information over the past year so he could justify bonding for the Administration building, parking ramp and $25 million dollar bond payment for Lewis & Clark? We can only imagine the answer to that question. I would suspect that the Public Works Department has known for at least the past two years this was coming AND it would be very expensive. Funny how this got dumped into TenHaken’s lap after Bucktooth did all his monument building. Go figure. Not to mention the $50 million dollar jail and $190 million School Bond.
If I was the city council I would grill Mr. Cotter on how long he knew about this expansion and the possible costs. Following orders to keep something a secret from Bucktooth is unacceptable.
City of Sioux Falls Water Treatment Plant Expansion; Lots of Questions
Before we go off the deep end and spend $260 million for an expansion of the water treatment plant, some major unknowns need to be answered;
The city says we are at 82% Capacity. How long did it take us to get there? How many more years before we are at capacity? How long will it take to build the expansion? Can we draw this expansion out over 5-10 years, doing incremental changes?
What percentage of treatment is used for nearby towns that contract Sioux Falls to treat their water? Can we increase their rates significantly?
What is our true population growth? And how does that breakdown? How many newborns? Retirees, immigrants, new people/families? How many from neighboring towns that already use our treatment plant?
Why are we using the enterprise funds for capital improvements? Shouldn’t this be for operations and maintenance? Why not use 2nd penny funds to pay down bonds of new plant?
As you can see, we have a lot of big questions that need answers before we decide to move forward with the new plant.
City Administration Building
County Commission
Jeff Barth
Mayor TenHaken
Minnehaha County
Public Utilities
Public Works
Rick Kiley
SF City Council
SF School District
Sioux Falls
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.
Better strap down the load next time
A South DaCola foot soldier sent me this today and said, “Isn’t it city ordinance to strap down your load?” I guess a city truck lost this new traffic light out the back of their truck while trying to make a yellow light. Oh the irony. I also heard a rumor today that directors have been telling the new mayor that their departments are ‘broke’ and don’t have any money for new projects. Maybe RC would like to borrow us $130 million?