Rapid City voters say “No!” to Libertyland theme park, soundly reject Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for it
Money usually talks before elections but in Rapid City Tuesday, money got a harsh rebuke. To the deep-pocketed developers of a theme park-based project in Rapid City, the voters said “I can’t hear you.” The tax increment financing (TIF) proposal that the voters shot down by a 2-to-1 margin was called Libertyland USA. It was said to be the largest TIF in the state’s history, giving $46.5 million in property taxes raised by the project back to the developers for use at their discretion.
The Libertyland theme park was to be the centerpiece of the $125 million plan, which included an indoor waterpark, hotel and conference center, an indoor/outdoor amphitheater, a themed RV Resort, and “Liberty Village,” a mixed-use neighborhood providing housing, retail and dining.
The idea had strong support from Elevate Rapid City, the city’s Chamber of Commerce-like center of the business community. Given the non-stop media barrage and signage throughout Rapid City during the weeks before the election, TIF-backers shelled out a pretty decent sum of money.
By contrast, opponents had next to nothing in signage (the one above is the only one I saw in town) and a few radio spots in the days before the election.
A knowledgable source told me that the pro-TIF folks spent more than $600,000 and that the opponents spent about $16,000.
David probably had better odds coming in against Goliath.
The few voters (all of them voting “no”) I talked to had reservations about the sizable amount of property tax money that was being given to the developers. Some said they just didn’t want something like this in Rapid City.
I was ambivalent, my main reservation being the theme park itself.
Theme parks just aren’t as popular as they used to be. Six Flags is having its troubles and a theme park named Libertyland in Memphis shut down altogether in 2005. Diminshing crowds were a major reason for the shutdown. Considering that metro Memphis holds about 1.2 million people I have to wonder how metro Rapid City, which has maybe 150,000, could support even a downsized version of the Memphis Libertyland.
Possibly, proponents had their eyes on the scores of tourists that come through the area each summer. Problem with that thinking is that most of those tourists are out here to see the unique destinations (Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Badlands, Deadwood, Crazy Horse Mountain, among others) that make this region what it is. They’ve probably got theme parks within striking range of their homes. They don’t need to drive all the way to the Black Hills to see another one.
If Rapid City thinks a theme park can pull significant numbers of summer tourists away from our well-entrenched attractions, I think we may be experiencing delusions of adequacy, never mind grandeur.
Over the years I’ve generally supported the TIFs that sprang up here, but I do believe that Libertyland was an overreach of expectations.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: John Tsitrian
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
Follow us and comment on X and Bluesky
