STURGIS – The Sturgis City Council will meet in regular session Monday. 

The regular council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 1040 Harley-Davidson Way, Sturgis. 

The council will consider approval of first reading of Ordinance 2023-3: Title 7. The council discussed changes to the ordinance at its meeting on March 6, but this will be the first reading of the ordinance.

Title 7 defines how city government operates.

The City Manager/Title 7 Subcommittee has been meeting for the past year to consider changes. The subcommittee is made up of one councilor from each ward in the city of Sturgis and was formed following some citizen concerns on the amount of power granted the city manager.

The subcommittee concluded that under state law and city ordinance the city council retains broad authority to define the duties and responsibilities of the city manager. It further concluded that revising those duties and responsibilities was within the council’s prerogative.

The sub-committee directed Sturgis City Attorney Mark Marshall to draft proposed revisions to Title 7 of the city ordinances and the city’s Policy and Procedures Manual. Those revisions will be discussed at the council meeting Monday.

The council will convene early as a Board of Equalization at 5:45 p.m. to hear objections to real property assessments. There are five assessments the council will consider. They include: Luther Cotton - 2102 Colorado Drive; Mark and Kristin Sammons, 614 Weber Drive; Heath Ferguson, 748 Sherman Street; Carol Walker, 1141 Deadwood Street; and Cory and Amber Williams, 3205 Katie Lane.

Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie will present at the meeting the January 2023 sales tax numbers which are quite positive.

The city’s general 2% sales tax in the month of January 2023 was 11% higher than January of 2022. That total in January 2022 represented 6% of total sales tax collections. 

Ainslie said having only January numbers it is too premature to construct a reliable trend, but added that it is definitely a very positive result. The adopted 2023 budget assumes a total collection of sales tax that is 4.4% lower than the current trend, he said.

The city’s Triple B Sales Tax, an additional 1% sales tax charged for all alcohol, hotel, restaurant, and similar sales, was also up in January. Sales for the month of January 2023 were 17.5% higher than January of 2022. 

The January 2022 numbers represented 4% of total tourism related sales tax collections. The adopted 2023 budget assumes a total collection of sales tax that is 13.1% lower than the current trend.

Also at the meeting Monday, the council will consider professional services agreements with both the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sturgis Economic Development Corp.