FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2021 Positive Revenue Projections Lead Jasper Mayor and Council to look to the Future for Major Projects.
Jasper, Ala– Mayor David O’Mary addressed the Jasper City Council at its regular Friday work session, sharing big news and big plans related to future investment in the town of 14,000. Jasper is expecting to finish fiscal 2021 with a 16% increase in tax revenue and the largest monetary reserve in history. It seems as of today this could mean $3-4,000,000 in budget surplus.
Below are the high points of what was discussed at the public meeting:
1. Development and construction of a sports complex – the development would be planned for property located in the Industrial Blvd – Walker County Lake area. This complex would be city developed, owned, maintained and operated. The vision and scope for the project would include state of the art facilities that would be determined by an independent consultant; based on what best fits the area.
2. New City Hall – The possibility of a new city hall at the existing Sherer Auditorium in downtown was next on the agenda. The idea was posed to develop administrative offices in the historic building. Plans to attempt to return the building’s façade to its original WPA state were discussed, and further included possibly utilizing basement space for rental and other opportunities. A professional architecture firm would be retained to begin looking into options.
3. The Mayor proposed a new paving allocation that would include prioritizing roads based on severity of degradation and need. Priority of roads paved will be determined as before by an independent engineering firm. This was estimated that it could reach $5,000,000 worth of infrastructure investment.
4. The final proposal on the Mayor’s list was to establish a fund to be available to the Jasper Industrial Development Board, for economic and industrial development. This fund would set aside up to $2,000,000 in funding that could be used for JIDB projects such as land acquisition, or property improvement. To access these funds, the JIDB would make a request to the Council and request amounts based on individual projects. The Council would allocate or deny funds.
No votes were taken, however the Council was in unanimous support for each of these proposals, and asked the Mayor to move forward with the “fact finding” phase for each.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT:
Brent McCarver
205-385-7990
