Property taxes in South Dakota are out of control. While politicians in Pierre argue about the best way to incentivize new buyers, South Dakotans are actively being priced out of the
homes they already own. Zoning, density, and access will dominate the local discussion in coming years, but any conversation about affordable housing at the state level has to start with reducing the impact state taxes have on homeowners. Everyone is a vibrant contributor to our state’s economy as long as we give them a place to go when they’re off the clock. Throwing more money at the problem is not the solution.
Did you know just fourteen other states have both initiative and referendum processes available to citizens? These processes are great for injecting new ideas into the lawmaking process as long as they’re accessible to everyone. Let’s improve public education about how to circulate petitions. We also need to make petitions easier to read so that people know what they’re signing and that hard-earned signatures aren’t thrown out arbitrarily.
Elections have become a complicated topic but the most common-sense solutions are the easiest to implement. For example, why don’t we have all of our elections on election day? Multiple election days pull people out of work, cost tax payers more, and hurt turnout. As a result, less than eight percent of voters participated in April’s Sioux Falls city election. In Brookings, only 15% of eligible voters participated. Low turnout for stand-alone city elections is common across the state. Instead of spending tax-payer dollars advertising multiple elections, South Dakota state law should be amended to explicitly allow municipal elections to happen on the same day we elect our public officials.
We have to take care of our kids—that’s just the right thing to do. We need to support more capacity for after-school programs with gateways to Birth to Three services, and create opportunities for businesses to participate in cost-sharing programs with workers and the state. Employees should not have to choose between their kids and their livelihood. We need to make certain that South Dakota’s kids can thrive in their journey to adulthood; that they are happy, healthy, and well-equipped to build their own lives in this state.
Full-time employees choose between their home or their healthcare. South Dakota competes every year for the title of state that pays teachers least. Politicians in Pierre worry more about their primaries than governing. The most important challenge facing our state is a crisis of leadership. Citizens confront the consequences of an absent legislature every day when they can’t find a daycare from nine to five, when property taxes threaten their ability to own a home, and when services they depend on go unfunded. South Dakota still holds the promise of a place to live, work, and raise a family, but we need leaders who understand the urgency of our opportunity. On November 5, join me in this opportunity and vote Keith Block for D14 House.
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South Dakota’s state government has relied almost exclusively on building incentives for new housing projects. Here in Sioux Falls, we see the product of that work every day. However, if elected I want to help shift focus to how we can make better use of properties we already have. Urban sprawl costs tax payers money and makes it harder for city governments to fund their own governments. South Dakota should pursue initiatives to encourage rehabilitation and/or demolition of outdated and decaying properties, freeing up land for development instead of growing city boundaries.
The initiative process is crucial to the wellbeing of South Dakota’s democracy. While I do not have any immediate changes that I am interested in making, I am concerned and disappointed by recent efforts from current legislators to undermine this process. If elected, I will never vote to undo the voters’ decisions and will defend the processes that keep politicians honest and government accountable.
Voter education is the cornerstone of good government. I believe that much of the distrust in our electoral systems comes from politicians who don’t show up to work for the people who elect them. My door will always be open to constituents, and I will work directly with voters to make sure they have a voice in Pierre.
The state’s role has been oversimplified in childcare. The legislature’s throw-away approach to the childcare crisis has been as expensive as it has been ineffective. The state should be one of many partners in creating sustainable childcare opportunities. If elected, I will work with businesses, labor groups, and childcare providers to make childcare a feature of employment, instead of an obstacle to it.
South Dakota is growing faster than at any point in our history, but we have to make sure this growth happens in safe, fair, and sustainable way. This means protecting wages for workers in the state, and ensuring they have access to the goods and services they need, changing systems that hold people back and creating new programs to fill in the gaps. The sales tax repeal was a good start, but the legislature has a lot of work to do before we can guarantee every South Dakotan benefits from South Dakota’s rapid growth.
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