Photo Courtesy: Rick Larsen
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO.com) — Sioux Falls City officials are doing some advance work on moving the Smithfield Foods plant out of downtown Sioux Falls. Part of that work is selling the benefits of creating a Tax Increment Finance District – or TIF – to cover some of the expenses of the 1.1-billion dollar plant. Dustin Powers of Planning and Development Services for the city of Sioux Falls laid things out for the Minnehaha County Commission Tuesday morning, saying the Smithfield project is the perfect example of a project that warrants the use of TIF districts.
He told commissioners TIFs are not tax breaks. Companies with projects included in a TIF district still pay property taxes on the value of the property before improvements are made. Local taxing entities would forgo higher property tax valuations created by the improvements for the 20-year life of the TIF district. The money saved would be invested in the improvements created by the project. County commissioners commended the state, local and development officials that helped get things moving to keep Smithfield in Sioux Falls. The plant has 32-hundred employees with a 200-million dollar annual payroll. Officials say the new plant will have roughly the same number of employees. It’s expected to begin operations in late 2028 or early ’29.
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