I’ll defer to smarter Sioux Falls observers to sort out the facts behind Councilor Theresa Stehly’s warning that the city’s proposed 260-million-dollar wastewater treatment expansion could cause sewer bills to “rise to $300 a month” if the population growth doesn’t meet the plan’s projections. Interestingly, the wastewater master plan makes an arguably conservative linear projection that Sioux Falls will grow from 160,000 to 250,000 poopers by 2040:
The master plan also projects linear population growth in the Sioux Falls suburbs, with Hartford cracking 10,000, Tea 30,000, and Harrisburg and Brandon converging at 33,000 over the coming century:
But wait a minute! I wasn’t going to get all wrapped up in population statistics! I was going to compliment Republican Mayor Paul TenHaken on his ringing indictment of the Trump Administration:
“Unfortunately, this week you broke a sacred trust elected leaders have with their constituents,” TenHaken wrote. “As elected officials, we have an obligation to present factual information to the public…” [Todd Epp, “Mayor TenHaken, Councilor Stehly in Sewer Spat,” KELO Radio, 2018.11.19].
If Mayor TenHaken can take such umbrage at Councilor Stehly for grabbing a handy big number to describe the potential impact of the unlikely prospect that Sioux Falls would stop growing and would thus face a quintupling of water rates, then surely he feels that Donald Trump has broken the sacred trust elected leaders have with their constituents by lying over 6,000 times from the Oval Office. Mayor TenHaken’s response to Councilor Stehly’s concerns seems a bit overblown—just present the facts on which the population projections are based and challenge to come up with evidence and probabilities that Sioux Falls could stop growing—but I’m glad he’s put his moral marker down against the sewery deceit on which his party leaders base their rule.
Any info on long term population projections for all the cities and counties in the state? Where is the center of South Dakota population and how has it shifted throughout the nearly 130 years of stateood and where is it headed.
I find this interesting. Estimates of population growth that are too high (growth under the linear rate) would mean higher rates for rate payers. Those costs, though, could be gradually increased over time, so there would be some ability to cushion. Low estimates would mean the capacity of the system would occur sooner, requiring costly expansions sooner than planned and probably higher rates than if you estimated population growth on the high side. Instituting water saving technologies might be considered, too. If there is massive concern about either case, you could probably build in a fund that would cushion for either probability.
Paul’s hypocrisy, and apparent ignorance of using sarcasm to prove a point is hilarious. It didn’t help much that KSFY got into an editing scheme.
I think a more effective counter-point to the wastewater plan would be: Is this the only solution, or are there alternative methods that might reduce capacity needs or treatment costs?
Questioning authority is great, but coming up with an alternative that saves money is much harder for your mayor to “troll”. Could there be a campaign to curb wasteful water use by citizens and industry? Could alternative energy be used to reduce running costs? Are there sources of wastewater that would be more appropriate to divert into stormwater, or can greywater be re-used?
Surely a Republican can get behind a “slash waste” and “spend less” initiative, right?
In the last Sioux Falls mayoral race, Mayor Ten Haken gave Trump a “B” for his performance so far and even with all of Trumps lies. So based on that assessment, would it not be fair for the Mayor to still give Councilwoman Stehly at least a “B+” or better for her performance so far as a councilwoman, especially given that her off the wall comment or comments are not in the same league as our current president?
JKC, LOL, I would agree, Big T has a long way to go before she gets as absurd as Trump.
TAG, I would agree. I have suggested if we didn’t have so many (crappy) restaurants and food banks in town we could cut way back on our sewer output.
“I’m glad he’s put his moral marker down against the sewery deceit on which his party leaders base their rule.”
Can’t have “sewery deceit” in Sewer Falls, right?
😁😁😁😁
South DaCola, you’re saying food banks for the hungry are a sewer problem??
It was a figure of speech, you know, like $300 a month sewer bills.
👍
It has reached the point of stupid: “by lying over 6,000 times from the Oval Office” came out. . . You can’t even trash someone over a sewer project without going after Trump. You need a pill Cory. . . or to just put away the keyboard over the holiday.
Interesting question, Nick. The SD Department of Labor and Regulation has some old projections from 2010 to 2035 for each county. DLR’s Minnehaha numbers are larger than the Sioux Falls numbers through 2020 but then smaller than what SF projects for itself from 2025 through 2035.
Either SF is using new data showing faster population growth than the state expected when it calculated its projections, or maybe, just maybe, Councilor Stehly has some grounds to question the SF projections?
OS, Trump needs a pill, a truth pill. TenHaken’s words appear to agree with me.
OS, Trump constantly injects himself and his disgusting outrageous opinions into every news topic in every news cycle several times a day. Then he and his followers whine about the news constantly and obsessively covering his constant stream of BS.
Stop complaining about Trump’s name being in everyone’s mouths whe he is the one that put it there.
I think it would be great if Trump took a break from his Twitter mouthpiece over the holiday. What do you think the chances of that happening are?
As JKC suggests, Stehly’s off-the-cuff remark was nothing like the kind of blatant and malicious deceit Trump dishes out daily. Her dollar figure is wild, but it represents an honest concern from an elected official about the cost of a utilities investment and the strength of the estimates underlying it. Trump throws out claims he knows to be fabricated with no great public purpose in mind, only the desire to cover up for himself and his fellow despots. If TenHaken is going to roast Stehly for violating the public trust, he should be calling for Trump’s impeachment.