Written by Amanda Coers – Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes delivered his annual State of the City address during the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at 11:30 a.m. at the Coggin Avenue Church Connection Center on Friday. A full video of the mayor’s address will be posted on our YouTube channel soon.

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Mayor Haynes began his address with introducing the new employees hired by the city in 2017 including the new Fire Chief Eddy Wood.

“I have had no less than 10 firefighters that have come to me to thank me for the work that you do,” speaking to Chief Wood.

The mayor also noted recently hired Roland Soto as the Brownwood Sports Coordinator. Soto is tasked with bringing sporting events to the Brownwood area to utilize the recently renovated and newly constructed sports complexes.

“You want people coming to your community from other places, and Roland has done a good job of making that happen,” Mayor Haynes said. He later went on to share over 1,400 hotel room night stays for sporting events were registered in 2017, with over $400k being brought into the local economy because of those events.

The Hotel Occupancy Tax, which is a measurement of tourism dollars, was documented at $408,000 for the year.

“That tells us the things we’re doing in tourism are working,” Mayor Haynes said.

In his address, the mayor presented diagrams showing a slight dip in sales tax revenue for the year, with data showing $6.7 million verses the previous year’s $7 million.

“It was primarily from Hastings and Staples closing,” the mayor said. He went on to say he was encouraged to see Harbor Freight located where Staples was in the Commerce Square Shopping Center, and is hopeful that the now-vacant Hasting’s building will soon house a new business.

Mayor Haynes stated online shopping has caused a dent in sales tax revenue for the area. Real estate for Brownwood, however, has continued an upward trend with the Annual Building Valuation at an 11-year high, with an increase of 9% from the previous year. Residential sales saw a 22% increase compared to 2016.

“We’ve gotten all the way back up to where we were in 2008,” the mayor said, which was a banner year for real estate sales.

Residential development was a key highlight for Mayor Haynes, who was pleased with the creation of Indian Creek Townhomes: 120 residential apartments that are non-subsidized, the first in Brownwood since the late 80’s. Waterstone Development was also noted as a “unique, gated community, and a huge investment made into our community by that company.”

Housing has been an issue for larger companies as they consider locations in Brownwood and the need for living options for their employees.

Mayor Haynes discussed developments in the medical community with the new Hendrick’s Surgery Center and their recent ground-breaking ceremony for the soon to be built medical offices. Haynes called the development “an enormous investment, a lot of white collar jobs will be created.”

Speaking of park improvements, Mayor Haynes informed attendees that Cecil Holman Park, facilitated by ROC, now features new playground equipment. Fabis Park had new camp sites, volleyball area, baseball/softball area, additional signage added. Three parks in Brownwood saw new splash pads constructed in 2017.

“If I get a hundred complaints about Brownwood in a year, 50 of them is we have nothing for our kids to do,” Mayor Haynes said. “It’s an investment in families, and an investment in our communities.”

With the highs come the lows, and Mayor Haynes also addressed large expenditures, which he referred to as ‘unfunded mandates’ from the state and federal government. One such project was the waste water treatment facility.

“I assure you no elected official has ever said they want to redo the waste water treatment plant,” Mayor Haynes said, showing a 6.5 million dollar price tag that was handed to the tax payers.

He also referred to a recent expense required by the state as the city looks to repair erosion damage at Riverside Park. An archeological dig is required by the state to the tune of $8,000 before city can address the eroding issues.

The mayor explained in his address the City of Brownwood is a 34 million dollar business with both profits and expenses. To compensate for inflation, the city’s budget has increased. However, the mayor noted that increase amounted to less than 2% per year, over an eight-year period of time.

He went on to say if the city’s budget didn’t increase to match inflation, the impact would be felt by city’s 288 employees which include police officers, firefighters, utility workers, and staff. Nearly half of the city’s budget is set to pay employees.

“Where does the money go? Short answer: it went to our people, to our policemen our firefighters, to the guy standing in the cold fixing the water pipe,” Mayor Haynes said.

Looking ahead, Mayor Haynes said it is important for government, both local and beyond, to communicate with tax payers, in order to better educate about what is happening and why.

“I’m convinced that good people can sit down and figure out a solution,” he said.

“The city of Brownwood is blessed,” the mayor said in closing. “I’ve talked a lot today about the struggle and financial matters, but building is up, tourism is up, residential construction projects… it’s not all bad out there, I want you to realize how blessed we are to have what we have.”

Other data presented in the mayor’s address included:

• Unemployment for Brownwood is listed at 3.4%
• The city installed 3,000 feet of new water lines, and 3,000 feet of sewer lines
• 296 “blighted properties” have been cleaned up since 2010
• Streets: the City of Brownwood maintains over 350 lane miles, and over 30 miles have been paved since 2014. “It’s all we can afford to do, we’re doing as much as we can as fast as we can,” Mayor Haynes said.