Whitney: Huether still does it his way

The moment never arrived.

For those who believed Mayor Mike Huether would use Tuesday’s 2017 budget address to unveil his decision on whether to forge ahead with a $25 million city administration building against the wishes of the city council, the man threw you a curve.

Huether has until Thursday to decide whether to veto the council’s vote to repeal a bond ordinance to finance the construction of a new 79,000-square-foot facility at Eighth Street and Dakota Avenue – a project he has championed from the start.

In the past, it would have seemed likely for the high-energy executive to use a public address at Carnegie Town Hall to defiantly assert his will and put an upstart council in its place, enlisting audio/visual staff to pump in “We Are The Champions” as the veto was announced.

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But a funny thing happened. Huether showed restraint. The decision to green light the building could still come – in fact, it probably will – but an opportunity to stick it to the council and reinforce the city’s “strong mayor” profile was not acted upon.

“I was a little surprised,” admitted first-term councilor Greg Neitzert, one of those lined up against the bond measure. “I thought he might make a pitch.”

Instead, Huether offered a nod to fiscal prudence, proposing a budget of $467 million that marks a slight decrease from the record expenditure of $471 million in 2016. With sales tax revenue lower than expected, he leaned heavily on infrastructure and added just four new employees from the general fund, all of them police officers.

At times, Huether ran his power-point presentation like a game show host, warmly addressing councilor Theresa Stehly – a frequent advocate of greater neighborhood safety – when announcing the law enforcement additions.

“I was very pleased with what I heard today,” said Stehly, viewed as part of the new-era council that will more staunchly challenge the mayor. “He’s getting back to basics, which shows that he’s hearing what the public has to say about concerns with spending.

Mayor calls for less spending in 2017

“When you think about it,” added Stehly, “he’s really accomplished what he set out to do, with the railyard acquisition, the aquatic center and the events center. The challenge moving forward is to maximize those projects and make sure they’re used and supported financially.”

To that end, Huether warned that operational costs for the Midco Aquatic Center set to open this fall could become significant, to the tune of $500,000 annually. He phrased that as part of a message to city councilors to consider higher user fees when appropriate to help run the business.

He used the same theme for public transportation, in fairly dramatic terms. Using the image of an oncoming train for emphasis, Huether described how city contributions for paratransit and fixed route bus service are growing exponentially and will require fare increases to avoid serious fiscal consequences.

“There is an end date when this train is going to nail us,” warned the mayor, mentioning five years as the point when life as we know it will cease to exist.

Cutting through cautionary gestures was the political philosophy of a proud Democrat mentioned as a potential candidate for governor. Huether is a “get things done” executive who knows that progress costs money. He expects citizens to pay their way for city services and doesn’t consider sales tax hikes, when appropriate, to be the way of the devil.

It’s a different approach than many South Dakotans are used to, especially in the era of fiscal conservatism in Pierre. Councilor Christine Erickson served in the state legislature and remains concerned that city spending, including the use of general fund reserves, could be an issue.

“I’m thankful that this budget is more cautious,” she said, “but we’re still using more than $2 million in reserves out of a 4 percent (sales tax revenue) projection rate. It’s a mechanism to balance the budget, but it makes me uncomfortable coming from (Pierre). That’s not how we did things.”

Huether mostly does things the way that he wants them done, trusting his instinct and getting people on board. The administration building flap is the most recent challenge to that leadership style, raising questions about pursuing the project without due diligence and putting the city in more debt.

Huether attacked that last criticism with gusto during Tuesday’s address, noting that the city’s tax supported debt service of $19 million accounts for just 4 percent of projected 2017 expenditures, with a new city hall not creating a seismic shift either way.

“This doomsday scenario with debt that you hear about is just not true,” Huether said, and even Neitzert admitted that a $25 million office building “is not going to make or break this city.”

Hints at a veto weren’t hard to find, starting with the mayor’s assertion that public servants shouldn’t “kick the can down the road” when they have a chance to enhance the future, whether that means sports and entertainment complexes or office buildings that meet a long-established need.

“My gut tells me he’s going to veto this thing,” said Neitzert, and I agree with him. For all the fiscal restraint and good tidings toward councilors, this was a vintage Huether performance that signaled that he will continue to do things his way, not out of ego but as a result of knowing no other way.

Argus Leader Media city columnist Stu Whitney can be reached at swhitney@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter @stuwhitney