How To Attract More Small Businesses to Your City

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Alexandria has an ordinance (No. 4408) that provides business license tax relief, reform, and simplification for small and medium-sized businesses during their first two years of operation in the city. The initiative reduces the tax burden to $50 in the first year for businesses whose estimated gross receipts are between $100,000 and $2 million.

In the second year, the tax burden on average is cut in half as businesses pay the license tax based on the first year's actual gross receipts instead of the second year estimated gross receipts. The businesses pay the license tax in the third year based on the second year's actual gross receipts. These reforms leave start-up businesses with more money in the initial years and serve as an incentive for businesses to locate in Alexandria. (A Report from the National League of Cities)

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How You Can Save Your City $1 Million In Tax Revenue

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The towns of Parker and Castle Rock, Colorado, joined forces to take sales tax collection into their own hands. Prior to that, local businesses had paid both state and city sales tax to the state, which returned city sales tax to local governments. But the towns did not trust that state collection and enforcement efforts were sufficient to guarantee that they were receiving all the revenue to which they were entitled. In 2003, the towns created the Joint Sales Tax Self-Collection Program and hired a central tax collection staff.

In the first full year of operation, Castle Rock realized a net gain of $1,868,031 and Parker a net gain of $878,708. The towns estimate they will each save $75,000 annually over what it would cost to run separate programs. The savings have enabled the towns to offer increased services and pass the cost savings on to residents and business owners. The program also allows the towns to monitor compliance, provide timely, accurate statistical information to town councils, and exercise more authority over collection, since they now hear appeals on city sales tax issues. Local staff are available to provide assistance to business owners, and town websites offer business and tax licensing and tax filing options. (A Report by the National League of Cities)

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What Do Cities Think Will Alleviate Poverty?

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City officials were presented with a list of poverty reduction strategies and asked which they believed would be most effective in their city not necessarily strategies being implemented. They werethen asked how much capacity their city currently has for implementing each strategy. Two strategies were viewed as both effective and within the city’s capacity to implement: 1) focusing on economic development to bring more businesses and jobs into the community (89% say effective; 89% say their city has capacity to implement) and 2) strengthening neighborhoods by making them safer, enhancing services, and improving infrastructure (86% and 88% respectively).

At the top of the list for perceived effectiveness (91%) was creating better lives for the next generation by improving schools and children’s lives, but only 57% feel this is within the city’s capacity. Eighty-eight percent of elected officials say improving the lives of people through access to social services, job training, and child care would be effective, but only 61% say they have capacity to implement this strategy.

Over half of city officials (53%) say their current approach to addressing poverty is through specific programs, such as social services, housing and transportation. And 35% say it is addressed through other institutions and organizations with little city government involvement. While only three percent say the city has a comprehensive strategic, municipal plan to address poverty, a much larger proportion (28%) says this would be the most effective approach for their city. (Report from the National League of Cities)

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How Grassroots Efforts Can Make Your Community Safer

Each district in the New Haven Police Department has a grassroots Management Team comprised of residents, business owners, and institutional and service representatives who are concerned about their community. A committee system reviews and recommends policies and implementation plans regarding public safety, youth issues, physical and infrastructure conditions, and other topics.

A high priority issue from the Teams is responding to high risk behaviors and the safety needs of city youth. The holistic concept of youth oriented policing evolved from its many interrelated components that include aspects of prevention and intervention, youth crime, truancy, juvenile probation, mentoring, recreation, education, and service.

Partnership and collaboration were key to making a visible change in the neighborhoods, schools, and at home. The Department won top honors in the National League of Cities Third Annual Excellence in Community Policing Awards competition (Community Policing in Action, 75,000-150,000 population category). A Report from the National League of Cities.

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An Innovative Way to Avoid Foreclosures in Your City or Town

The Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition (BHPC) is sponsoring a media campaign to convince homeowners threatened with foreclosure to call the national HOPE hotline (1-888-995-HOPE) and be connected directly to professional housing counselors who provide advice, contact a homeowner’s mortgage lender, and when necessary direct the homeowner to local housing counseling agencies for additional aid.

The service is free and confidential, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Coalition has received federal funding via Baltimore City’s Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as local foundation funding, to increase publicity and education programs, and expand counseling and legal services. The toll-free HOPE hotline supplements Baltimore’s 311 Central Call Center, which also directs individuals to housing counselors and legal assistance.

In January 2008, the Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition, in partnership with a Prince George’s County coalition and the Maryland Housing Counselors Network, sponsored a Foreclosure Solutions Forum, where housing counselors, realtors, bankers, government officials, and advocates learned about sub-prime lending and foreclosure trends in Maryland and debated short and long-term solutions to the crisis. More information is available online at www.preservehomeownership.org.

The First City to Require Energy Efficient Buildings

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The Borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania, is the first municipality in the country where, by law, private commercial buildings must earn the Energy Star designation due to a new ordinance passed by the municipality’s Borough Council. The Energy Star program ensures that these buildings will be among the most energy efficient in the country. According to the new ordinance, a developer who is required to seek a “conditional use” approval for a project must design the building(s) to meet the energy performance goals of the Energy Star program. One year after operation, the building owner must assess energy use and apply for the Energy Star label. Savings from the program will be realized in greenhouse gas emission reductions and lower energy costs. (Report from the National League of Cities)

A Great Way To Assist Low Income Families

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For millions of low-income working families, the struggle to make ends meet is harder than it has to be. One way city officials can help low-income working families is by informing them of, and helping them to file for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

For eligible workers, the EITC offsets federal payroll taxes withheld from their pay. For the lowest-paid workers, the EITC refund amount may exceed their payroll taxes and put extra money in their pockets as an income supplement. Workers with two or more children can qualify for up to $3,888 an amount that can go a long way toward paying job-related expenses such as child care and transportation, utility bills, rent, and other costs of living.

Unfortunately, up to 20 percent of working families eligible for the EITC (and an even larger proportion of families moving from welfare to work) do not claim their EITC on their federal income tax return, or do't file a return at all. (Report from National League of Cities)