Your overwhelming support and renewal of our one percent City Sales Tax and two percent Bed Board and Beverage Tax shows how important our basic services and quality of life is to you.
Thank you for your commitment to sup- porting your community! The revenue from our City Sales tax (one of the lowest in the State) will continue to support our most critical services: police, fire, parks, recreation services, city court, and our libraries.
Our BBB revenue will continue to support programs and services such as the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies (NACET incubator), University to Business Connection, Business Attraction and Retention/Expansion, 30 community Arts and Science organizations and events in partner- ship with Flagstaff Cultural Partners, tourism with an economic impact of more than $500 million and over 5,000 jobs, beautification, and FUTS trails.
Your support of the APS Franchise exten- sion allows us to continue our work with a great community partner and will also provide additional financial support to those important community services mentioned above: police, fire, parks & recreation, libraries, etc.
As your mayor for the next two years, I will work to sustain and enhance the City of Flagstaff’s efforts in economic development, through our Economic Vitality team. We will continue our work to retain and strengthen existing local businesses, while helping to grow and attract innovative companies for sustainable economic health.
I mentioned one of our most recent success stories in last month’s issue of Flagstaff Business News: the Economic Collaborative of Northern Arizona (ECoNA) – which brings a new direction for economic development to our community and allows us to work collaboratively to maximize our resources with public and private expertise and diversified funding. I believe ECoNA will bring a new level of economic development success to Flagstaff and Northern Arizona.
While we have a number of accomplishments over the past few years, there is still much more to do and I am committed to continued success. And our Economic Development work program for the next year reflects that commitment:
– Promote sustainable retail, commercial and industrial development.
– Enhance high wage/low impact employment.
-Increase revenues through support, analysis, and programs for businesses.
-Develop/cultivate infrastructure that pre- serves quality of life and allows access to intellectual resources.
-Facilitate discussions and partnerships between businesses, people and organizations.
This month, we will approve a balanced budget for the next fiscal year. And while we have had to make some tough choices be- cause of reduced revenues, we have worked hard to maintain the programs and services that make our community the best place to live, work, learn, and play. You have made this possible. Thank you Flagstaff! Thank you for supporting your community through your votes, your voice, and your participation. I’m looking forward to the next two years! FBN
