Simplified: The Sioux Falls City Council this week gave final approval to a roughly $776 million budget, but not before dealing with what councilors said was a particularly tough budget year. Here's a look at the final totals and what last-minute changes were made Tuesday night.
Why it matters
- Tuesday's final vote came after several weeks of budget hearings and several months of planning both within the city administration and the council itself.
- Mayor Paul TenHaken initially proposed cuts to libraries, pools and city subsidies for nonprofit partners. Many of those proposed cuts were walked back by the City Council, who moved several hundred thousand dollars around to keep those services largely in place.
- All told, the council passed seven amendments to the budget, including prioritizing pools, libraries, neighborhoods and economic development.
"I want to make a strong statement tonight that we should be in the business of funding community priorities," Councilor Rich Merkouris said. "And whether we fund those community priorities through government employees or through outside contractors, we should choose that which is the most efficient and the most effective."
Tell me more about the budget overall
The budget will fund:
- 28 new full-time employees,
- a $4.4 million increase to the Sioux Falls Police Department,
- a $2.3 million increase for Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, as well as plans in the capital budget to spend $5.5 million on a new fire station on the north side of town,
- and a number of significant road projects, including:
- South Veterans Parkway,
- 85th Street and Interstate 29 interchange,
- Minnesota Avenue reconstruction (2nd Street to 8th Street),
- continued work on Cliff Avenue and Interstate 229.
Tell me more about the changes councilors made
Here's a quick run-down:
Less money for The Birdcage
The most significant amendment from a dollar value perspective was Councilor Jennifer Sigette's proposal to cut more than $10 million from the five-year capital improvement plan that was slated for improvements to the Sioux Falls Stadium.
"Until we get some kind of a master plan for that entire entertainment campus up there, I just can't get behind spending $11 million," Sigette said before the amendment passed on an 8-0 vote.
More logistics for the housing team
Councilor Curt Soehl also brought an amendment to withhold $500,000 in liquor license revenue proceeds from the housing department until the City Council OKs the city's plan to spend that money.
- This amendment – which doesn't impact the funding itself, but rather adds one more hoop for the city housing team to jump through – also passed 8-0.
"My intention is not to stop them from coming forward with a plan," Soehl said. "My intention is to make sure when the plan comes forward the plan meets those parameters (set forth by the council in previous years)."
More money for growth
Councilor Rich Merkouris successfully proposed moving some money around to bring an additional $300,000 to the city's pool of funds for "economic vitality and growth."
- These funds will be allocated to community partners through a new request-for-proposals process that replaces the city's previous subsidy agreements with groups like Forward Sioux Falls and Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc.
- Merkouris freed up the extra $300K by proposing that the $350,000 to fund the community partnership program related to at-risk populations comes from the liquor license revenue rather than the city's general fund.
Megan Raposa
More money for libraries
Councilors also unanimously voted to support keeping libraries open regular hours with a $270,000 cash infusion from the city's reserve fund.
Megan Raposa
Prioritizing pools
Councilor David Barranco proposed moving $75,000 around in the parks department budget to ensure that city pools stay open until Aug. 16 next summer.
- Parks Director Don Kearney said his team will figure out how to come up with those funds due to the "dynamic" nature of the parks budget each year.
More money for neighborhood associations
Councilor Miranda Basye is also asking the city planning department to move some money around to ensure that the fund for neighborhood associations can increase from $75,000 to $135,000.
- This will ensure an average of about $5,000 per neighborhood association, Basye said, with the goal of encouraging neighbors to keep working on community improvements without putting them in competition for funds with other neighborhoods.
Planning Director Jeff Eckhoff said some of that extra $60,000 will come from savings on planning due to additional work done this year as well as legal costs related to tax-increment financing.
What happens next?
Now, the big question is what will sales tax revenues look like. The budget is based on a projected increase, but Finance Director Shawn Pritchett noted that there will be challenges in meeting those numbers.
"It's gonna be, I would say, another challenging 12 to 18 months," he said.
