The Mayor of Spring Hill Rick Graham and City Administrator Victor Lay delivered the 2016 Spring Hill State of the City address to a packed house of 200 people with even more watching a live stream on Periscope. This is the 3rd State of the City presentation for Mayor Graham and Victor Lay and they looked very comfortable and did a great job.
It started with Mayor Graham thanking a couple special guests including Marsha Blackburn, Sheila Hood, Vice Mayor Hull, Alderman Kayce Williams and a couple others.
Mayor Graham said ” You better listen fast”, and he wasn’t kidding as the two of them jumped right into their presentation which included a nice Power point visual screen for all to see.
Building a team was stressed early on and you can’t move forward without having experts with experience in their fields. “We have done a great job in the last few years, and we are not too proud to say that we rob these talented folks from Franklin, Columbia, Waynesboro,” said Mayor Graham.
Being frugal was a big selling point as in 2007 the city was $3 million in the red in the general fund but now the city is fiscally sound. Spending less and putting money back into the community has enabled the city to acquire a bond with AA “Rated Very Strong” Standard and Poor’s rating.
Victor Lay discussed the budget with the city having $20 million general fund budget and a $15.7 million water and sewer fund budget. “Our expenses are less than our revenue,” Lay said.
The city has averaged around 600 building permits over the past two years and despite the drop in permits the city population has had a steady increase because of all the births in the city. The audience got a chuckle from this one as Graham said, “there must be something in the water.”
Lay said, “We expect our population to grow to about 50k by the year 2030.”
Sales tax is up 15 percent for the year 2015. The new Carmike movie theater was a major factor on sales tax collection gaining a $25,000 increase in monthly sales tax revenue, according to Lay.
Jobs was a big focus on the meeting with GM build four engines and the new GMC Acadia. GM has also brought in other businesses to the area with Magna, Ryder, Comprehensive Logistics who make parts for the vehicles.
New retail businesses coming into the area are Zaxby’s, Hampton Inn, Bojangles, Culvers, Holiday Inn Express, Port Royal Twice Daily, Red Robin, and Parkway Wine and Spirits.
At the conclusion Mayor Graham asked, “What is Spring Hill Rising?”, 52 new infrastructure projects planned, 600 active adult homes coming to our city, 12 best of rankings, and 2600 new jobs announced in 2015, this is Spring Hill Rising, this is our city.
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