Mayor’s Minute

I hope you all had a joyous holiday season and will experience a healthy and prosperous new year.

 As we start 2018, I thought I would reinforce the “Buy Vestavia Hills” campaign. I recently attended the Economic Development Day for the Leadership Vestavia Hills class. Karen Odle, the executive director of the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, shared some interesting statistics that clearly show what a difference it makes for us to spend our dollars in Vestavia Hills.

Consider the following:

► The 2010 U.S. Census identified 13,987 households in Vestavia Hills.

► If those households were to spend $200 per month ($50 per week) in Vestavia Hills instead of outside the city, that would result in an additional $2,797,400 in sales per month.

► Sales tax revenue generated for the city (based on 3 percent) would be an additional $83,922 per month.

► That increase per month would result in $1,007,064 for the year.

Imagine what the city could do with another $1 million in sales tax revenue each year!

This number does not include the additional revenue generated from business license fees, which would increase based on the increased sales by our businesses.

We recently received the results of the 2017 Citizen Survey of city services. As expected, our city services received high ratings. 

I have shared some of these results in past columns, but I can’t emphasize enough that Vestavia Hills enjoys a quality of life that makes us unique. 

To summarize a few quality of life examples:

► We are the safest city in Alabama for cities of greater than 30,000 in population.

► Our school system continually ranks in the top tier for Alabama, as well as the nation.

► In the 2017 Citizen Survey, Vestavia Hills residents rated Vestavia Hills as an excellent place to live and raise children.

You will be hearing more about the 2017 Citizen Survey as the City Council begins strategic planning meetings for the establishment of goals and objectives for the coming year.