Written by Amanda Coers – “We’re blessed in the city of Brownwood to have great people. Brownwood is great, we’re doing well,” said Mayor Haynes during his annual State of the City address at the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon, held at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church’s Connection Center, on Friday.
The presenting Sponsor for the event was Oncor, and table sponsors included Doc’s Drugstores, Echo Wireless Broadband, and McCoy’s Building Supply Center. Several members of the community, business owners, city employees and others were present. The mayor prefaced his address by recognizing city employees, city council members, and members of the Economic Development Corporation Board.
Mayor Haynes’ 2017 State of the City Address began with listing new employees of note for the city including Brownwood’s new Chief of Police: Terry Nichols, new City Engineer: David Lundy, new Director of Utilities: Henry Wied, and the new Sports Coordinator: Roland Soto.
Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes
The mayor’s address continued with a look at economic performance statistics for the city during 2016. Reports for the city’s sales tax revenues were divided into two halves. “The first half of the year we saw substantial gains,” said Mayor Haynes. “In the second half of the year we saw that our sales tax actually decreased and fell behind the prior year.” Over the year, the city saw a .6% gain in sales tax revenue over the previous year. Haynes explained one way to analyze the figures would be to compare to the state’s overall performance, which showed Brownwood to be comparative to the state’s average.
Haynes gave the heated Presidential Election as one possible reason for the decline, stating “We had a lot of uncertainty from May until November, and that largely coincides with the decline in sales tax.”
The mayor also address some local concern with businesses closing. “It is concerning, but it is a trend,” explained Mayor Haynes. “The type of businesses in the retail sector that are going to change, due to internet shopping.” Mayor Haynes stated grocery stores and restaurants were booming, while “soft goods” were in decline, because of the ease of online shopping.
In 2016 Brownwood saw three big additions to the restaurant sector: Cotton Patch Cafe, Starbucks inside United Supermarket, and McAlister’s Deli. Mayor Haynes noted progressive growth for the city with new businesses opening over the past four years.
The mayor’s address continued with a look at the area’s tourism for the year. Hotel occupancy tax looks to “blow last year’s record away, and last year was a banner year,” Haynes stated. “More people are coming to Brownwood and staying in Brownwood.” Local hotels collect the Hotel Occupancy Tax from their guests for the City of Brownwood. The revenue derived from the Hotel Occupancy Tax is used to promote tourism in Brownwood.
Employment statistics for the city of Brownwood were also favorable. Haynes stated that unemployment rates in Brownwood are at 4%, which statistically means that everyone is employed that wants a job.
Next in his address, Mayor Haynes discussed Real Estate statistics for the city in 2016. “The most positive numbers we get to look at is real estate,” said Haynes. “The average price for homes in Brown County was $180,000 last year. Just a few years ago, that price was around the $100,000 mark. So we’re talking about dramatic gains in the value of real estate in our market.”
Average residential prices increased by 20%, average residential sales volume increased by 21%. Commercial prices decreased after the banner 2015 sales, but over record construction offsets those statistics.
2016 saw a substantial increase in the volume of property sales in Brown County with 7 million dollars in residential real estate sales. Commercial real estate didn’t see a large increase in sales due to the lack of commercial property currently on the market in the Brownwood area. 2015 was a “banner year” for Brown County, with land being purchased for Cotton Patch, McAlister’s, United Supermarket, Heff’s Burgers in Early, and Discount Tire in Early.
The city of Brownwood saw new construction projects worth 21 million dollars in 2016. “That is a tremendous year in relation to construction. There was building everywhere,” said Mayor Haynes.
“People ask me all the time why I want to see Brownwood grow,” Haynes said. “The City of Brownwood is like any other business. You have revenue, you have expenses. Our expenses never stay the same, it goes up every year. If we don’t grow and expand the ad valorem tax base, we don’t expand the sales tax base, where does that revenue have to come from? It comes from us. I would rather see sales tax, and other new businesses, new houses built, new construction and growth in our community than I would to raise the tax rate on the current citizens.”
The mayor then discussed the city’s plans to shift focus to make residential building a priority. Larger employing businesses have expressed concern over the lack of housing for potential new employees. Two new developments are currently under construction: the Waterstone Development property on Southside Drive, and the Indian Creek Town Homes development on Milam Drive. Both properties are looking to be higher end developments for this area. Brownwood has not had any new non-income-based housing developments since 1979.
Along with residential developments, the city also has plans for civic developments in 2017 with plans to build a dog park, splash pad, and make several improvements to the Cecil Holman Park. The mayor invited Brownwood City Councilman, Draco Miller to give a quick presentation for funding opportunities to assist with the park’s improvements.
Brownwood City Councilman Draco Miller
Improvements to the Cecil Holman Park are headed by ROC (Revitalizing Our Community), an organization founded by Draco Miller. The City of Brownwood has committed $100,000 for improvements, but additional funds are needed for the expansive project.
“It’s going to be a beautiful park,” said Miller. The park is located near the Bennie Houston Community Center and is the third largest park in the city. New playground equipment will soon be installed and some demolition of older features has occurred. ROC is holding fundraisers, and bricks are available for sale. The bricks are $75 and will feature custom engraving with names to be added in a memorial path. Granite slabs are available for purchase as well. A putting green is also being planned for the park, along with a full basketball court. Individuals interested in donating to the park or purchasing a commemorative brick or granite slab can contact the City of Brownwood for more information.
While the majority of the mayor’s address was positive, he did state the city officials planned to monitor the upcoming Texas legislation sessions closely this year with a new state representative and state governor in place.
“The cities are under attack. There’s a lot of legislation aimed at removing powers from the cities, to consolidate the power in Austin and take away the power for the cities to self govern,” Haynes stated. “It’s dangerous, and it concerns us. And I will be calling upon you when the time comes to let our elected officials know that’s not a good idea.”
A full video of Mayor Stephen Haynes 2017 State of the City Address can be viewed here:
