Our next comprehensive plan must include strategies to fund the community services, infrastructure and cultural activities citizens expect in the twenty-first century. Aging equipment and infrastructure combined with the need for delivering new technology to meet rising societal expectations demand significant expenditures.
While many governmental and non-governmental provide critical community services, the $46.5 Million Fiscal Year 2024 Budget discussed at the recent 10 April 2023 Maysville Board of Commissioners demonstrates the local government’s scope of ongoing financial needs. The scale of the issue is evident when one remembers their discussion did not include the city’s personnel costs, any of Mason County’s or other local taxing district budgetary needs.
Funding local services is particularly challenging because our population is declining while our average is increasing. In 2022 dollars, our rural sector economy had $65 million fewer sales in 2017 than in 1974.
Some say our need for capital investment is a chicken or egg problem. They say we need income from new businesses to afford significant capital investments in local community facilities. But add, we will only land new business when modern community facilities are already in place and up to date.
The next comprehensive plan should adopt a different solution. It should adopt policies that will help recruit industries that:
- add little to no long-term burden on our local community facilities, including services and infrastructure,
- Increase the real estate tax base to support local services.
- protects our topsoil for future generations.
- Reduces chemical pollution in local watersheds.
- Helps replace the $64 million of lost tobacco and dairy income
- Increase the number of local high-value job opportunities.
