City seeks to manage cost of growth in 2022 budget
July 22, 2021
Growth comes with costs – and the city of Sioux Falls is having to budget to try to address them.
That takes the form of everything from more building plans to review, to more streets to maintain, to more public safety support.
“I would describe this as a meat-and-potatoes budget,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “Nothing crazy.”
It’s a $654.2 million proposed budget split among operating at $277 million, capital at $272.7 million and internal service expenses such as funded employee benefits, insurance, the city’s fleet, centralized building management and technology at $104.5 million.
The budget proposes adding 23 positions:
- ADA attorney
- Grants coordinator
- Communications specialist
- Desktop support administrator
- Three police officers
- Police sergeant
- Animal control officer
- Two traffic/lights locators
- Two street equipment operators
- Streets lead
- Two storm sewer collection technicians
- Midco Aquatic Center recreation specialist
- Building plans examiner
- Transit program coordinator
- Water program lead
- Utility locator
- Scale operator
- Wastewater operator
Additionally, the city is proposing a $253,000 increase in its support for Metro Communications, following last year’s approval of funding for a new 911 dispatch center.
“The priority for positions follows our One Sioux Falls framework,” TenHaken said. “Safety and health – we’re always going to fund firefighters and cops to keep up with our growth – but one area we had let fall behind was in Metro Communications, so we’re increasing our support to Metro because they have staffing needs that haven’t kept up with population growth.”
The city pays 75 percent of Metro costs, and Minnehaha County pays 25 percent.
The grants coordinator position is a new addition, focused on centralizing grant tracking and supporting the departments to maximize grant opportunities and assist the city in reaching out to disadvantaged business enterprises.
“There’s a lot of dollars out there we may be missing,” TenHaken said. “The ROI should be almost instantaneous. You get one grant, and the position will pay for itself.”
The city also is preparing for more retirements, he added.
“We have to make sure we’re getting people on board to learn from those who are going to be exiting,” he said. “Some people will say you’re bloating government, but the truth of the matter is at the rate we’re growing the need to deliver services has never been greater in the community.”
For instance, last year the Public Works Department received 67,000 requests for utility locations.
That’s “for everyone building a fence, a new home or extending a street,” director Mark Cotter said. “And you add to that two aggressive plans to build out fiber infrastructure … so we’re very happy the mayor is supportive of adding three locators to our force. There’s a volume right now that’s just really high, and it’s continuing to increase.”
The general operating budget is funded largely by taxes – property and sales taxes account for 80 percent of it. User fees such as water and wastewater fund those services.
The budget does not take into account federal funds related to the pandemic, which could help cover additional costs – likely one-time projects or funding.
The city Health Department and the transit and housing divisions already have received funding, and the city also was able to eliminate some debt last year because of it.
City finance director Shawn Pritchett said he hopes to bring forward a plan for additional dollars in the coming weeks.
“There’s just a lot of pieces to it,” he said. “We’re still in the process of sorting through the dynamic of those funds.”
While record construction years, population influxes and business openings are favorable, the city also has to prepare to handle it, TenHaken added.
“It’s very exciting, but it’s almost more nerve-wracking for us behind the scenes because we have to keep up with the challenges of that growth.”
The city will hold department-level budget hearings in August, and the City Council is scheduled to vote on the budget in September.
For a look at a key projects and changes in the capital improvement plan, click below.
