LETTER | Does the city have a secret money tree?
You can see online the $68 million proposal plans for two new aquatic centers, the remake of Frank Olson and Kuehn pools. It's nice they would have lots going on. But I have two concerns.
Who can use them? If, as projected, the fees would be like the new Westside Rec Center (former Sanford Wellness Center), those fees are too high. Annual family pass: $634! If kids get free or reduced-price lunch, family annual fee: $317! These are city-owned, taxpayer-owned facilities, not resorts.
Already, current swim fees are unaffordable for some. Unless a family has food stamps, it costs $16 for a parent taking two children for an afternoon swim on a hot summer day – for just a few hours in a public outdoor pool. It's a pool built with public money. This makes me wonder whether we should build these new facilities using property and sales tax if some of our residents cannot use them.
City spending/borrowing. Does the city have a secret money tree? It's dizzying to contemplate so many recent and upcoming city proposals and their costs: Midco indoor aquatics, Sixth Street bridge, the skatepark, an ice ribbon, the Sanford Wellness Center purchase, two new aquatic facilities, a new convention center, a viaduct re-do, airport expansion. All this is while we're still paying for the Denny Premier Center and the new city administration and garage buildings. Those loans are termed through 2036.
All this is in a city with 47 percent of its children on free-and-reduced-price school meals, its families already hurting by higher prices, its homeowners complaining about property taxes, and food insecurity rampant and growing.
It's OK to dream, but will the City Council be realistic about putting expensive projects on the people? There is plenty of money in this city. How about waiting to build a project until enough donations come in from corporations and individuals to cover building costs? Then the city would have only operating costs.
I think all these are legitimate considerations.
Let the mayor be a dreamer, but the City Council is responsible to the people and to down-to-earth fiscal responsibility, not to the mayor.
Cathy Brechtelsbauer
Sioux Falls
