With the recent voter defeat of the proposed property tax increase, the need to generate taxes through other sources is more important than ever to help keep our lovely community as vibrant as possible.
As an advertising representative for The Fountain Hills Times the past 11 years, and having been in sales in the Valley for 35 years, I am somewhat self-trained to notice commercial vehicles driving around – always looking for the next sales lead, you know. Recently, it seems to me, I have noticed more and more from out of town in Fountain Hills.
That tells me that many of my Fountain Hills neighbors may be calling businesses that are not based in town to pay them for work needed. Regular examples are trades including plumbers, heating and air conditioning specialists and remodelers. That suggests to me that my neighbors are probably using the internet to search for a needed service and out of town businesses are popping up on their search engine that “serve” Fountain Hills, or possibly someone has referred them.
That scenario set, I introduce the concept of shopping local. Yes, I know shopping local is not a new concept, and I certainly did not invent it. However, for 15 of my 35 years in the Valley I worked for chambers of commerce and in the field of economic development, specifically managing a statewide business retention and expansion program for the Arizona Commerce Authority, then known as the Arizona Department of Commerce, selling the shop local concept and “support your local business community” strategies.
Years later, as a Fountain Hills resident, that experience led me to help found and ultimately lead the Greater Fountain Hills Business Alliance – a non-profit, pro-business organization that worked exclusively to support our local business community.
All this combined I question why, when there are so many good, competitive Fountain Hills businesses in the aforementioned trades, out of town business vehicles are so frequently seen in our community? All Fountain Hills businesses can be readily found in the 2018 Residential and Business Directory, and they often advertise weekly in The Fountain Hills Times and/or one or more of our annual publications.
As an ad rep I am grateful for our advertisers. I must acknowledge that a few out of town businesses also advertise in our publications in hopes of getting a piece of the Fountain Hills pie and expanding their business – that is capitalism at its best. I am also grateful for those advertisers yet I’m torn…as a former economic development professional, and a 20-year resident of Fountain Hills, I want to exclusively support our Fountain Hills businesses first, but as a red-blooded capitalist I also support the non-Fountain Hills business that, through their advertising, support the company for which I work.
Having voiced my feelings above, the bottom line for me is: I hope my Fountain Hills neighbors will at least get a couple of bids from our local tradespeople before hiring any company for the work they need, and will always try to find the service, restaurant or shop they are looking for in our community before driving over the hills to Scottsdale or Mesa.
And before you say it, yes, I realize you cannot find everything you want in Fountain Hills, so driving over one of the hills to shop or shopping online may be your only option in some instances. I just respectfully request you exhaust every option in Fountain Hills or with a Fountain Hills business before you lay down your hard-earned money in another community.
I hope my neighbors, especially those who voted no on the property tax, are doing their utmost to support local businesses whenever possible.
