2026 City Charter Amendments Explained

Sioux Falls voters will be asked to consider five proposed amendments to the city charter in the upcoming election. The charter serves as the city’s governing document, so even small changes can affect how city processes are carried out. This year’s proposed amendments range from correcting obsolete dates and a typographical error to clarifying budget language and updating rules related to elected officials.

Each proposed amendment is listed along with the City Attorney’s explanation, which can be referenced here.

To help make the ballot language easier to understand, we’ve broken down each amendment in plain language. These summaries are intended to explain the practical effect of a “yes” or “no” vote and are based on the City Attorney’s explanations. Voters should review the official ballot language before casting their ballots.

Note: a “yes” vote means you support making the proposed change to the City Charter. A “no” vote means you prefer to leave the current charter language in place.

Amendment A
Shall City Charter §§ 2.02(c), 3.02, 5.02, 5.05(c), 5.11(a), 6.01, and 9.05(a)-(f) be amended to eliminate any obsolete date provisions while allowing the city council to set those dates by ordinance.

City Attorney’s Explanation of Amendment A:
This Amendment is a housekeeping measure to reflect recent changes in state law. The dates set forth in the City Charter concern the time for the regular municipal election and the terms of office for elected officials, as well as the time for the presentation and approval of the City budget and the City’s capital program. The listed City Charter sections follow the dates set by state law at the time of the Charter’s initial adoption. However, those dates in state law have since been changed, making the current dates in the City Charter obsolete, or no longer in use. The proposed change, as approved and submitted by the Charter Revision Commission, would eliminate any obsolete dates from the City Charter, then allow the city council to set any dates by ordinance to comply with any current state law. The proposed change for Section 9.05(a)-(f) eliminates the obsolete date provisions pertaining to the City’s first municipal election under the City Charter, which occurred on November 8, 1994.

What this means
This amendment would remove outdated dates from the city charter and allow the city council to set those dates by ordinance so they align with current state law. The affected dates relate to municipal elections, terms of office, the city budget and the capital program.

Amendment B
Shall City Charter §§ 5.05(b) and 5.07(e) related to city council action on the budget and any amendments thereto be amended to read:

Section 5.05 City council action on budget.

(b) Amendment before adoption. After the public hearing, the city council may adopt the budget with or without amendment. In amending the budget, it may add or increase programs or amounts and may delete or decrease any programs or amounts, except expenditures required by law or for debt service or for an estimated cash deficit, provided that no amendment to the budget shall increase the authorized expenditures to an amount greater than total estimated income, plus the fund balance carried forward, exclusive of reserves.

Section 5.07 Amendments after Adoption

(e) Limitation; effective date. No appropriation for debt service may be reduced or transferred below any amount required by law. No appropriation may be reduced below any amount required by law to be appropriated or by more than the amount of the unencumbered balance thereof. The emergency appropriations and reduction or transfer of appropriations authorized by this section may be made effective immediately upon adoption.

City Attorney’s Explanation of Amendment B:
The proposed change, as approved and submitted by the Charter Revision Commission, would clarify language regarding the city council’s action on the budget. Section 5.05(b) states that any amendment to the proposed City budget to increase any authorized expenditures cannot be in an amount greater than the total estimated income for the same period. Sometimes the City will carry a fund balance forward to the next budget cycle. This proposed change clarifies the carried forward balance may be used in calculating the maximum amount of authorized expenditures to be made under the proposed City budget or any amendments thereto. This proposed change is consistent with the other City Charter provisions related to supplementing the budget during the year.

The proposed change to Section 5.07(e) clarifies that the city council may reduce or transfer appropriations and budget authority, except no reduction or transfer can be made by the City if the appropriation is required by law or is legally required debt service payments.

What this means
This amendment would clarify how the city council may amend the city budget. It specifies that fund balance carried forward from a previous budget cycle may be included when calculating available budget resources, and it clarifies limits on reducing or transferring appropriations, particularly for legally required spending and debt service.

Amendment C
Shall City Charter § 2.05(a) be amended to read:

2.05 Prohibitions.

(a) Holding other office. No council member shall hold any other elected public office during the term for which the member was elected to the council. No council member shall hold any other city office or city employment during the terms for which the member was elected or appointed to the council. No former council member shall hold any compensated appointive office or employment with the city until two (2) years after the expiration of the term for which the member was elected or appointed to the council, unless granted a waiver by the Board of Ethics. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the council or mayor from selecting any current or former council member to represent the city on the governing board of any regional, national, or other intergovernmental agency.

City Attorney’s Explanation of Amendment C:
The proposed change, as approved and submitted by the Charter Revision Commission, would allow the City of Sioux Falls Board of Ethics to grant a waiver to the prohibition on a former city council member being able to serve in any paid City office or employment for a period of two years after the city council member’s term of office had ended.

What this means
This amendment would create a waiver process for former city council members who wish to hold paid city employment within two years of leaving office. The waiver would have to be granted by the City of Sioux Falls Board of Ethics.

Amendment D
Shall City Charter § 9.05(f) be amended to read:

Section 9.05 Schedule

(f) Salary of mayor and council members.

The salaries for all members of the council, including the mayor, shall be established by ordinance and automatically adjusted annually pursuant to Section 2.04. Except for adjustments for inflation as provided in the preceding sentence, no ordinance varying the compensation for the mayor or other council members shall take effect for any office until a regular municipal election for such office shall have intervened. The ordinance establishing salaries as set forth in this section shall be subject to referendum as provided for other ordinances in state law. No meeting fees shall be paid to the mayor nor city council members.

City Attorney’s Explanation of Amendment D:
The salaries of the City’s elected officials were first set by the City Charter in 1994, then have been adjusted for inflation or deflation on an annual basis. The proposed change, as approved and submitted by the Charter Revision Commission, would allow this automatic adjustment to continue to occur while also allowing the city council to set by ordinance the salaries of the City’s elected officials at a level above or below this amount. Such a salary ordinance would not become effective until after an intervening regular municipal election for that office has been held. Any such ordinance would be subject to referendum as provided for other ordinances under state law.

What this means
This amendment would allow the city council to set salaries for elected officials by ordinance, while continuing the current annual inflation or deflation adjustment. Any salary ordinance would not take effect until after a regular municipal election for that office and would be subject to referendum.

Amendment E
Shall Section 2.06(d) be amended to read:

2.06 Vacancies; forfeiture of office; filling of vacancies.

(d) Filling of vacancies. A vacancy in the office of mayor or in the city council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any, at the next regular election following not less than 60 days upon the occurrence of the vacancy, but the council by a majority vote of all its remaining members shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy until the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term takes office. If the council fails to do so within 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, the city election authorities shall call a special election to fill the vacancy, to be held not sooner than 90 days and not later than 120 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, and to be otherwise governed by law. Notwithstanding the requirement in section 2.11, if at any time the membership of the council is reduced to less than six (6), the remaining members may by majority action appoint additional members to raise the membership to six (6).

City Attorney’s Explanation of Amendment E:
The proposed change, as approved and submitted by the Charter Revision Commission, would correct a typographical error in the above section, changing the word “falls” to “fails” while leaving the rest of the section intact. The proposed correction would not change the intent or meaning of this section.

What this means
You support correcting a typographical error by changing “falls” to “fails.”