ABERDEEN, S.D.(HubCityRadio)- The Aberdeen City Council on Monday night passed a first reading on an ordinance to raise the BID District Tax from four to six cents per square foot with the city contributing around $25,000 from the budget to match that.

Toby Doeden with Doeden Investment Group sent HubCityRadio the following to share with his reactions to the passage.

“Our issue was never with the substance, we were willing to have a conversation on that.

Our issue was with the process, which was underhanded at best and corrupt at worst.

There was multiple attempts to acquire information from the people involved which they refused to give us.  They were unwilling to share any information or allow us to give them any meaningful input.

A couple very well to do people and organizations downtown were the ones spearheading this.  Apparently the small business owners in downtown Aberdeen mean very little to these people.

Many small business owners downtown are already struggling, and now they’re going to be facing rent hikes from their landlords.

Not to mention that many small business owners downtown actually own their property.  A few hundred dollars there doesn’t mean much to people like Jim Thares, but it means a lot to small business owners.”

2nd reading of the ordinance is planned for Monday, August 19th.