Questions I’m Raising About Yankton Thrive, River City Flats, and This County Commission Race
by Julie Auch – Candidate for Yankton County Commissioner
YANKTON — As a conservative candidate for Yankton County Commissioner, I want taxpayers to see clearly how local leaders spend public money and who benefits from those decisions. That’s why I’m calling attention to the River City Flats apartment project and the role Yankton Thrive plays in it.
River City Flats is a $14.7 million apartment complex going up on Whiting Drive. More housing can help our community, but the way this deal came together raises serious concerns.
Yankton Thrive, our local economic development group, owned the land under this project. Instead of listing that land for sale or opening it to competitive bids, Thrive gave it to out‑of‑town developers for free. The developers did not pay a purchase price or a transfer fee. Thrive took property it acquired and held with taxpayer support and handed it over at no cost.
Thrive didn’t stop there. It approved a $542,000 grant for River City Flats and agreed to buy up to $700,000 in subordinate notes to help finance construction. In total, Thrive delivered free land, a large cash incentive, and significant financial backing to one private project. Thrive operates with public support and enjoys tax‑exempt status, yet it concentrated a major package of benefits in the hands of a select group of developers.
Leadership overlap deepens these concerns. Several people who sit on the River City Flats board also sit on the Yankton Thrive board, and another individual serves as a Thrive liaison. The same insiders who steer “economic development” dollars through Thrive now stand close to a project that receives those dollars. That kind of tight circle doesn’t reflect a fair, open market; it reflects an inside track.
Meanwhile, ordinary local businesses face a very different reality. When a small business owner or farmer in Yankton County wants to expand, they buy their own land, pay property taxes, and hire local builders, plumbers, and electricians. They invest their own money and take all the risk. That is true, bottom‑up economic development.
In contrast, Yankton Thrive holds more than 75 tax‑exempt properties and chooses who gets land, grants, and financing. Because taxpayers help fund Thrive and local governments exempt its properties from taxes, every sweetheart deal it makes raises questions about fairness and priorities.
Last fall, the City of Yankton voted to send $460,000 of your tax dollars to Yankton Thrive for “economic development.” Shortly afterward, the city raised water and sewer rates for every resident. Families, seniors, and small businesses now pay more every month. You have every right to ask: did your life improve because city leaders handed $460,000 to Thrive, or did your bills simply go up while a few well‑connected players benefited?
I’m running for County Commissioner to change this culture. I will fight for limited, transparent government that refuses to pick winners and losers. I will insist that groups receiving taxpayer money open their books and justify their decisions. And when I vote on zoning, land use, and economic development, I will put taxpayers first, support open competition, and work to restore trust in county government.
