Informational Meeting

MINUTES Informational Meeting Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 4:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104 1. Call To Order Council Members Present: Janet Brekke, Christine M. Erickson (via telecom), Alex Jensen, Greg Neitzert, Curt Soehl, Pat Starr Council Members Absent: Rick Kiley, Marshall Selberg Council Chair Curt Soehl called the meeting to order at 4 p.m. He stated that Council Member Christine M. Erickson was on the phone and that a quorum was present. 2. Councilor Remarks Council Member Alex Jensen said that he and Councilor Erickson will be meeting Thursday for another Housing discussion and invited the public to attend. He thanked those who attended last week's Housing meeting and said there was a great discussion. 3. Presentations A. April 2021 Financial Results by Shawn Pritchett, Finance Director Presentation: Approximately 10 minutes followed by discussion Pritchett began his presentation by stating that Employment is up by 1.62% from last year at this time, but we are down from our peak in June by 1.6%. He said that we are at full employment with an unemployment rate of 3%, slightly below the State average and 3.2% below the National average. Pritchett said we can't understate the phenomena of what's going on in the community right now, relative to employment. He said it's a critical situation and it's hard for employers to find people for certain positions. In regards to inflation, there has been a steady increase. It was 4.2% in April, which is up 2.6% from March, and 1.7% from February. Energy is the primary source for the rate increase. Food rates have lowered slightly. Through the month of April, there have been $318M in building permit valuations, which is 100% more than were we were last year; and up about $80M from the year before. New commercial values are up about 122% and new residential values are up approximately 82%, from April of 2020. Pritchett said we are seeing a significant and robust building cycle going on right now, which is being led by the multi-family sector. He said 784 multi-family housing permits were issued through the month of April, which in many years what would have been issued for the entirety of the whole year. There were 321 single family housing permits issued,  which is up from 126 last year. Sales tax collections are up 24.3%. Pritchett said that for comparison purposes moving forward, they will start comparing 2019 figures, which was a more normalized year versus the pandemic months. The Entertainment tax is up 38.2% from last April and a 4.7% increase from April 2019. He credited restaurants, which taxes are collected for this, with driving the increase. Pritchett spoke about Industry Taxable Sales Data and what's driving change. He spoke about several possibilities, but didn't pinpoint one thing. Lodging is up 44% compared to last year and 0.7% compared to 2019. The Lodging BID Tax Receipts were up 48.7%. He said occupancy rates are hovering in the 60% range. Pritchett said we haven't received local government assistance dollars yet, when discussing the General Fund - Revenues YTD. The City has received 24% of its budget so far and expended 26%. Discussion followed regarding: the increase in lumber prices; last year's budget surplus and tomorrow's working session; the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the allocation of funds; purpose of the City's reserve funds and uses for it; the City's recovery plan and public input; $10.8M in General Fund from the CARES ACT; CARES ACT vs. ARPA; Housing permits; and bank franchise tax. 4. Public Comment There was none. 5. Adjournment A motion was made by Council Member Starr and seconded by Council Member Jensen to adjourn at 4:42 p.m. Roll call vote to adjourn. 6 Yes: Brekke, Erickson, Jensen, Neitzert, Soehl, Starr; 0 No: (None). Motion Passed. Denise D. Tucker, MMC, Assistant City Clerk