With last year’s defeat of the primary property tax, the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission has had to rethink its priorities for the coming years. While executing those priorities will likely be a far trickier task without additional financial backing, the town has to keep pushing ahead.

It seems like the theme here is “work with what you’ve got.” Without additional resources, town council and staff will have to figure out how to further optimize what’s already on the table. Fountain Hills is known for being something of a desert oasis; a great place to work and raise a family. So now the question is how do we make sure more people know that fact while simultaneously creating new opportunities for the community to thrive?

One of the remaining sources of additional income is economic growth, which explains why maximizing economic development opportunities has become the top priority under the reorganized goal structure. This includes everything from enticing developers to bring their projects to Fountain Hills, to putting a bigger push behind strengthening and publicizing the town’s brand. Also pegged as a primary concern is creating new residential and commercial development opportunities to further power that economic machine.

Broken down, the reprioritized strategic goals flow nicely into each other. First, build on what’s available. Second, make sure what we already have established is well maintained. Finally, use what we’ve accomplished from those first steps to encourage more families and businesses to give Fountain Hills a try.

There are a lot of gaps to fill in along the way, but we share the town council’s sentiment that we’ve got a solid road map for the years ahead. Now it’s time to execute.