New wage study and 2022 taxes reviewed in Wednesday’s Legal and Finance meeting

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Wednesday’s Legal and Finance meeting had conversations about a new wage study for union state employees, and reviewing of the 2022 sales tax report.

The tax report hit a record for the community, being 6.46% higher than the previous record in 2021. City officials say the increase compares to the national inflation rate of 6.5% in 2022.

“As we head into the new year were optimistic about everything that’s going on, but at the same time, we need to be prudent. Because there’s a lot of uncertainty with inflation and the impact on people’s wallets and their spending. So as we plan for the future and we have a lot of things we need to invest in, but we are gonna have to be prudent on our projects,” said Jason Salamun, City Council, Ward 3.

The council also approved more than 80 thousand dollars to perform a wage study for city employees that are part of the AFSCME.

The rapid city police department also brought forth a retention plan to be approved. There will be more on that story on Monday.

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