Owning vs. leasing: Sioux Falls City Hall betting $8M on snow removal savings

Public Works asking councilors to OK special budget change to buy fleet of motor graders

Sioux Falls is plowing ahead with a plan to buy, rather than lease, the heavy machinery that clears its streets — a shift City Hall says could save millions over time.

For more than two decades, Sioux Falls has leased the heavy machinery used to clear snow from city streets. But with property tax reforms expected to constrain revenues and sales tax receipts slumping, the city’s finance department wants to take a new approach to fleet management — own the motor graders instead of leasing them.

But that plan hinges on City Councilors signing off on a special budget proposal that would use $8 million in reserves to purchase the necessary fleet of plows before the existing lease agreements expire next year.

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