Let’s assume you’re a mayor and leader of the majority local party, so you can implement almost any decision. You have an average small/medium town in a relatively rural area that’s not a tourist hotspot and your town/city is average looking at best, so you can’t build it on tourism like a village in the Alps or something, there’s no gold mines or whatever and you don’t have any more money than other cities have for you to build extravagant things, so you can’t use “cheats” like that. You just have a boring little town and that’s it.
How would you improve the income to the city budget (without just raising taxes over and over) and bring more tourists, citizens and businesses to it?
As you’ve described it bringing in tourists is probably out. In order to grow the revenue I will have to get business to move to town. Either through the current residents starting them or encouraging existing business to move. Preferably these business will employ other residents in town or get new people to move to town for their job. As the mayor I would prefer local residents over people moving to town so I’d start a business incubator and give people the tools they need to carry out their ideas. Then I would look at land around town and give incentives for new business to use the land either through tax reductions, regulatory favors, or cash. The land program would be advertised regionally to also get business to move, though the program would prefer incubator graduates.
Depending on the other town needs I’d also look into infrastructure repair and building new as necessary.
I would try to find a way for the residents of my town to work remotely, thereby opening up more job opportunities without having to fellate big corporations. That might involve finding some sort of grant to upgrade infrastructure or internet access, but I really think that would be more viable going forward than bringing in a factory.
If you can develop something that actually attracts people from outside the town, and gets them to spend significant amounts of money in the town, then this could help.
Back when I worked at Quaker Oats, we were a sponsor of the “World Grits Festival,” which was held in St. George, South Carolina, which has a population of about 2,000 people. They drew thousands of people, from all over the region, to that festival.
The trick, I imagine, is being able to figure out ways to monetize that event (admission tickets, etc.) in a way that actually contributes to the town’s revenues, as well as that of local businesses.
A small town in Minnesota, Braham (pop 1820) has an annual Pie Day that raises thousands for the city every year through their pie auction. It’s a weird little thing, but it works.
Another small town says it has the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, which brings people in to spend time, have lunch, hit an antique shop or two.
Having that weird one off special thing seems to work, as long as it’s widely advertised outside the area.
You need to follow the example of Lourdes in France or Fátima in Portugal and have a miraculous sighting of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. Bonus points if the Vatican declares it authentic.
Yeah. I’ve been wondering recently which places are going to win the “teleworking boom” sweepstakes by successfully attracting newly relocatable employees of companies that have decided to be much more accommodating about working remotely from any location.
Obviously many of the existing tourist destinations of the affluent are already sharing in this boom. Didn’t we have an SDMB poster starting a thread about relocating to Hawaii as a remote worker during COVID? I’m sure there are thousands like them, and similarly for Boulder and other “dream vacation” locations.
But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some savvy smaller slumpier places managed to bring in significant numbers of new telecommuting residents by exploiting more low-key appeal. Let’s see, I guess they would need the following:
Reliable high-speed internet service
High-quality healthcare within a reasonable distance
Very affordable housing and tax rates, compared to the big cities their new residents would be leaving
A reasonably accessible big city nearby, but not so close as to make the town just another suburb. Good-quality transit would probably be a plus, even for those residents who aren’t regularly commuting anymore.
Appealing natural environment and municipal amenities.
I’m not sure to what extent the OP would consider this to be violating their criteria of “boring little town” and “relatively rural”, but I bet there are some places that we could agree meet both sets of conditions.
A vibrant cultural economy returns manifold economic value back into a community. For example, you could rent a a municipal building to a non-profit theatre company for $1/year. That company employs workers: artists, designers, administrators, educators, and technicians. People who come see the plays spend money in the town - going out to restaurants, ice cream shops, etc., who in turn employ others. It’s a virtuous cycle.
I agree with the “get an attraction that puts you on the map.”
It could be tied to the area…if you have lots of pig farmers, maybe it’s a “Bacon Festival.” Otherwise, maybe it’s quirky. Got a local legend, cryptid, semi famous person from there, etc.? Maybe start a contest? Yearly meetup/rally like Sturgis? Then submit to:
And your town’s websites like Chamber of Commerce. Submit to your state’s tourism board.
This is being tried in Trinidad, Colorado right now. Millions of state and private funding have been poured into the town but it has been a very slow revitalization. I believe they are almost 6 years in and it still isn’t paying for itself. I don’t think a town could pay for it on their own.
I mean, this stuff does take time, but based on that article it sounds to me like it’s going fairly well, overall, particularly for such a small and out of the way place. And I never suggested that the town “pay for it on their own.” My example specifically included non-profit companies and local businesses all involved, because they all benefit.
I like the idea of improving connectivity to bring new telecommuters to town as residents. This would buoy local small and large businesses alike, and would not be a once-a-year infusion of money, but a sustained revenue stream. I also like the local business incubator idea.
A town near us has re-purposed an old quarry into an adventure park. Another is building a competitive soccer field complex. Both ideas should draw people to town from the region, but they wont necessarily put the place on the map as a tourist destination. In either case, it needs to be something unique to the area.
Sadly, some places use their cheap real-estate as an advantage to just build tons of inexpensive subdivisions and strip malls to attract people.
Aside from the suggestions above, make sure the town is welcoming to newcomers. Don’t be in a place like GA that is attempting to show how backward it can be. There was a town in Texas some years back that turned down a proposed Apple manufacturing plant because Apple allowed same sex partners of employees to share benefits. This was before same sex marriage was legalized.
There are two little towns in my area just down the highway from each other. About 15 years ago, both were slumping. The town councils in each one considered what to do, and the idea of sidewalk replacement on the Main Street and some residential areas was proposed in both.
Town A decided to invest in sidewalk upgrades and renewal, even though it would be pricey.
Town B passed, because it would be too pricey.
Both towns have about the same tax revenue.
Guess what? Fifteen years on, Town A has been doing better. Downtown business has picked up, some new families have moved in.
Town B is slumpier, with a bit of population drop and the population getting older.
Infrastructure, of various sorts, is squarely within most municipalities’ mandates. Maintenance and renovations can have a significant effect on attracting people and businesses.