After ‘trying year,’ TenHaken previews city plans for 2026

History likely will remember 2025 in Sioux Falls as a year when major projects began and others came to their conclusions.

There was the next stage of construction for Veterans Parkway, another stretch of Arrowhead Parkway and the groundbreaking of the 85th Street interchange. Jacobson Plaza welcomed kids to the playground and splash pad in the summer and its first ice skaters in time for the city’s annual Winter Wonderland. A long-awaited stretch of the River Greenway in downtown Sioux Falls was completed.

But in real time, the day-to-day challenges tend to be amplified.

As his eight-year term comes to a close in mid-2026, Mayor Paul TenHaken is reflecting on what he calls “a trying year, for me and the city,” he said. “It was probably the hardest year in the last three.”

For the city budget, 2025 meant making adjustments to compensate for lagging sales tax revenue and unpredictable property tax policy.

“It doesn’t change the need to provide services, so that’s been a challenge,” he said. “It’s a trying year, but despite all that, I still think we’re in good shape.”

Broadly, the city remains in “a really good position” financially, and “there’s some cautious optimism for (2026),” he continued. “There’s just a real tepid economy right now.”

The coming year will bring progress on multiple pool projects, with the new McKennan Park wading pool opening for this year’s swim season, the new outdoor aquatic center at Kuehn Park under construction and the new recreation center with an indoor pool at Frank Olson Park moving forward after four years of planning.

Pointing to multiple recent surveys, “people really do want us to continue investing in quality-of-life amenities,” TenHaken said. “Sometimes, we get stones thrown at us like we don’t need to invest in a pool, but residents are wanting us to. They want those amenities so when it’s snowing, they can go walk on a track inside and take their kids to a pool and indoor play area, so it’s validating some of the planning we’re doing and the investments we’re making.”

City population growth seems to have leveled to its historical 2 percent to 2.5 percent, he added. That still means adding about 5,000 people annually to the metro area.

“It’s manageable growth but barely,” TenHaken said.

It also brings additional challenges, including addressing public safety.

“I’m really anxious to do our annual crime briefing in February because every major category is a decrease year over year,” TenHaken said. “We’ve added another 5,000 (population) and decreased every category. So it’s a good news story, but perception is not reality … so we have to do a better job with sharing the good news happening with public safety.”

Major projects for 2026 include continuation of multiyear road projects already underway in addition to the reconstruction of Minnesota Avenue from Second Street south to Eighth Street, and construction of the city’s next fire station, located in northwest Sioux Falls. The pool at Kuehn is scheduled to open in the 2028 swim season, with Frank Olson ready in 2029.

TenHaken also anticipates closely engaging with the South Dakota Legislature to begin the year, especially around bills related to economic development.

“Just to make sure we don’t do anything that could have negative effects to a city like Sioux Falls that needs some of these tools to continue to help our growing community,” he said.

“The other thing is I want to leave this office and the city in a really good spot for the next administration. There’s just a lot of polishing. I want to leave them with a great team. I don’t want to leave them with a headache or half-finished initiatives.”