Washington City-"The Best Place to Live"

Recently the nationwide real estate company Movoto released its annual ranking of the best places to live [link], in each of the states, around the country.  Not surprising to us, Washington City ranked as the second best place to live in the state of Utah.  We were slightly eclipsed by the city of Holladay, in northern Utah, but we are proud of the ranking nonetheless.

The selections were based upon a point system that measured: total amenities available, quality of life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, and student-to-teacher ratio), total crimes, tax rates, unemployment, commute time, and weather.  Once this criteria was established, Movoto looked at all cities over 100,000 with populations over 10,000.

Washington City scored the highest of all cities with regards to amenities.  This included not only the great outdoor opportunities available in our beautiful area but also our local parks, recreation programs and community center.  We also scored high in our weather and quality of life.  And even in spite of the fact that, on occasions, the Green Spring/Telegraph intersection can be crowded, we scored strong points for having a commute time of only 16 minutes.

Our neighboring cities of St. George and Hurricane scored respectively 17th and 39th.

We are very proud of this recognition and note that the best asset of our community was not even measured; and that is the quality of our citizens and the spirit of community that exists here.  In that end, it is the citizens that we want to be and the community spirit that we want to create and maintain that will make us the one of the best places to live and raise our families.

Growth

We recently did a calculation in our city of the number of new single-family residential homes that have been built in the last year, the total came to approximately 630.  That represents an increase in population of approximately 1,764 new residents to our community, just last year.  We are not anticipating this growth to curtail at all and should remain constant like this for the very near future.

Growth is always a challenging thing and sometimes not liked by our existing residents.  Too often we have the sentiment "now that I have built my house, please don't let anyone else build."  This "last in" feeling is understandable but not realistic.  As we continue to build this community into a "city of choice," we will continue to attract residents.  They will become our neighbors and friends.  They will become friends of our children and many of those relationships will last a lifetime.  There is much more good that comes from growth than negative, in my opinion.

People often ask why we can't slow down the growth.  That is also challenging when you consider that growth comes because of individual property owners desire to benefit from the land that they own, by subdividing it and selling it for homes.  For local government to intervene in a property owner's desire to do this, challenges the very premise of property rights and ownership-a beautiful component of the society and country we live in.  Of course we will attempt to assist in making sure this new growth has as minimal an impact as possible on the existing residents but growth is driven by supply of land and demand for residency, with local government in the middle helping to make sure this comes together in the best way possible.
In my view, I think that growth is going to continue; at least for some time.  But I like to think of the wonderful people that are now calling this place home, for the children and the relationships that will begin because of these new neighbors, and for the wonderful richness we will experience as our borders expand.  For all of our residents, old and new, it is and will be a wonderful place to call home.

In Remembrance of a President

This week will mark an event that occurred fifty years ago, that event was the loss of our President, John F. Kennedy. I have always been intrigued by this President and his life in large part due to the fact that our lives passed each other, I was born November 21, 1963 and he died November 22. When I was younger I was fascinated by his life and legacy and know that this was, in large part, what motivated me to want to go into public service.

It is hard to imagine fifty years have passed.  For me a good portion of my life. We have changed so much since then and even though much of our national innocence died alongside that president I think it is a good time to remember some of the ideals he set for us. I believe that this nation is truly a "city on a hill" and a light to other nations. I believe we stand on the edge of a "new frontier" in difficult and troubled times. I believe that we do challenging things in this country not because they are hard but because they are right. And I believe that our strength will always lie in what we do for our country and others and not what they does for us.  These are also great ideals to remember as a city. 

So it is not only a good time for reflection on where we have come as a country and city over the last fifty years but more importantly to reflect upon where we are going, and if these ideals will guide us into the future. 

In this spirit, I feel privileged to be a part of a city that bears the name of another great leader of our country and am grateful to be in the public service of such a wonderful community. 

Suntran Mass Transit

Approximately a year ago we implemented the yourwashington.org website.  This site collects ideas from our community and allows citizens to vote on what is most important to them.  Over the past few months the highest vote-getter was for the city to look into having St. George expand the Suntran bus service into our community.

The idea of expanding bus service to Washington has been talked about for some time.  The Washington City Council has conducted two surveys with our citizens to determine an interest to ride and to pay for such a service.  We are showing greater interest in the using of a bus service and we think this interest will only grow.  One of the challenges we face however is not finding an interest to ride a bus but rather an interest to pay for bus services.  The current Suntran system, in St. George, is provided at a fairly high subsidy by the taxpayers.  Because of this, and other reasons, this decision is not just a simple one by the Council.

The Council has heard your voice of interest in this issue however and would like to pursue these discussions more fully.  Because this topic received so much attention from citizens in our community, we are taking it off the yourwashington.org site and creating a separate web page just for the Suntran discussion.  This will be a place that anyone interested can view and stay on top of how this topic is progressing.  We will let you know shortly, where you can access this webpage, so stay tuned.

Manager Ralph McClure

I thought I would take a minute to talk about a man that probably many of  you don't know but who nevertheless has had an impact upon every citizen of Washington City.  This past week Manager Ralph McClure passed away. Ralph served as the City Manager of Washington City for 17 years (1985-2001).

Ralph not only made Washington his home but dedicated his profession to turning this small sleepy community into the robust city it is today. During his years of service many changes and improvements occurred that we are still the beneficiary of today. During the time Ralph served as Manager, the Green Springs Golf Course was developed, the municipal power system was built, the Home Depot and Walmart commercial center was established and there were great improvements in our road and utility systems. He worked hard to make Washington into the community we love today. 

Often times individuals may wonder what kind of lasting impact their life has on others, well for Ralph you don't need to travel too far around our community to see his impact, his contribution, and his handprint. We are enjoying a greater quality of life today because of Ralph's service and dedication to this community. 

So to Ralph's lovely wife Eileen and to his family, on behalf of a grateful city, we express our condolences for their loss and our appreciation for his life. And as one of his successors I recognize the big shoes I must fill but am grateful for the great shoulders on which I get to stand. We will do our best to continue to create the vision you had for Washington City. 

5th Anniversary of the Community Center

I remember a number of years ago, a young man maybe 12 or 13 who would get on the City Council
agenda every few months. He would stand boldly at the podium, with his skateboard in his hand, and tell the City Council how they needed to do something more for the kids his age in the community. He told them that they needed to build a skate park or a recreation center or something to keep young people busy or in his words "we will get in trouble."  The City Council listened to this young man and others in our community who were asking for the same thing and in 2008 the Washington City Community Center opened it's doors.

In May we celebrated our fifth year of the opening of that facility. Over the past five years this facility has not only become highly successful but has endeared itself to the hearts of our citizens.

For your information the Center has been visited over 497,000 times in the past five years and 397,683 of those visits were by paying members (others included events and spectators).  The Community Center currently has 6,342 members, houses over 45 program and oversees events and leagues that include more than 12,000 participants.

We could also share the great number of events that have happened since this facility has opened, the great business partnerships which have occurred, the employment that has been provided for our youth and the many awards we have received.  And all of this we are very proud of.  But what we are most proud of, and what is a little harder to measure, is the impact that this facility has had on the residents of this community from their health to a place to celebrate and socialize, the Community Center has provided that.  And as we think back to this young man, who appeared before the City Council, we reflect upon the thousands of young people the past five years who have passed through these doors and found a place to have fun and "stay out of trouble."

So a happy anniversary to our Community Center for all the good you have given to us, over the past five years, as residents!

2014 Budget

Recently the City completed its budget process as we closed off fiscal year 2013 and began fiscal year 2014.  It was a good year for the city as we continued to see improvements in our economy.  More individuals are employed, our housing market has improved significantly from the last couple of years, and consumer confidence seems to be growing, as our sales tax numbers have improved.  We are still being very cautious in our forecasting and projections but we like the way we are trending.

Combine this revenue improvement with the streamlining we have been able to do in expenses over the last few years and the City sits in very good financial position.  Employee growth has been held very tight and we have continued to do more with less.

In spite of the challenged economy and the cutting back of expenses, Washington City has grown by almost 1,000 citizens every year and this previous year we grew by over 1,500 citizens.  We certainly continue to be the "City of choice" for many who are coming to our area.

The overall budget this year was $42,265,529 with a General Fund budget of $11,917,413.  We continue to have one of the lowest property tax rates in the county and believe that we offer our citizens good value for the many benefits we offer here in the City.  For ongoing budget information please refer to washingtoncity.org/finance

I know it may be boring but I would encourage you to look over the budget for this upcoming year, even if it is just to glance at it.  It will help you to stay apprised of how your tax dollars are being spent and the benefits you receive from them.  As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Continue to have a great summer!