Town Manager Tom Hall Is Guest Speaker
May 27th Meeting
Returning for his 3rd visit to our club, town manager, Tom Hall was introduced by President Candy. The former president of the Rockland Club used slides that had prepared for a presentation to the Chamber of Commerce resulting in a very informative presentation.
Scarborough has seen an increase in jobs of 777 since 2010 including an increase of 162 last year. As new home construction has rebounded, there were 135 new homes permitted last year. With no large malls, Scarborough posted retail sales of $452 million an increase of 7 ½ percent.
Tom mentioned that Maine is about the only state that relies so heavily on the property tax which he feels disproportionally penalizes the lower income. He repeated the often heard comment that a community must be able to provide housing for people who work within its boundaries
Why is Scarborough successful?
Location
Clear Development Goals
Progressive/Innovative land use policies
Strategic Investments
Predictable Tax Rate/Cost Effective Services
Challenges – Changing Development Trends
Corporate Building Off by 40 %
Space per Employee is decreasing.
Rise of “1099 worker” (Self Employed)
Tom also mentioned changing demographics, external budgetary pressures, and understanding our economically vulnerability.