Mayor Allender provides city report on 2020

RAPID CITY — Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender held a press conference and provided information about the last year in regards to the city. Many of the items expounded on were put into context with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allender began his statements with saying that the city elected a 10% decrease of sales tax revenue and the city financially planned for that change. However, by the end of the year, Rapid City saw over a 3% increase in sales tax dollars which Allender said would have been a good sign without a pandemic as well.

There are currently around 175 homes on the market in Rapid City which is down 76% from this time last year. Housing prices are up 16% and the median price is around $300,000.

“It means people are buying homes but it also has other implications as well,” said Allender. “An increased demand for housing, the rate at which we can construct housing, along with other factors will result in higher costs of housing.”

The estimated population of Rapid City has risen and is now around 77,000 people, but Allender said the results of the census will be provided to the city in March. A report that will surely show a greatly increased population.

Allender reported that the Civic Center was the hardest hit city function during the pandemic since it funds itself, but he stated that revenue has been increasing since the beginning of the pandemic. He also gave updates on the construction and changes that are going to be made to the facility.

“This will probably be the last press conference we have where we refer to it as the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. July first of this year it will become the Monument,” he said referencing the naming rights which were purchased by Monument Health.

He also said that construction on the new arena is on time, on budget, and has been benefitting from mild winter weather. Hopefully going to be completed by September, the new arena is going to be named the ‘Summit’.

Allender also touched on trash in public spaces. “With the high winds that we have and the fences and open lots that we have, this town has really become a mess,” he said and further commented on citizens needing to take pride in the community as 99% of the trash is on private land.

While commenting on the overall impact of the pandemic on Rapid City’s community health, Allender said that “it appears that the trend in the overall infections coupled with vaccinations is positive for us, but I still have faith that we can mess this up if we are not careful. We can start getting together and ignore the pandemic and drive those infections right back up but vaccinations are on the way.

 

He went on to speak about the community being divided by political issues and called for citizens to be nicer to their peers.

 

“Let it start with you today and let you be a positive impact on someone else’s like who is struggling from anger and frustration from being cooped up and afraid for the last year,” he said.

 

(contact Travis at travisldewes@gmail.com)

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