Anna economic development director highlights sales‑tax gains, recruitment and upcoming developer forum

Economic Development Director Mister Parker told the Anna CDC/EDC board that June’s economic development highlights included continued sales‑tax gains, new downtown business recruitment and expanded outreach to lenders and developers.

Parker said the CDC launched a business retention program, updated its marketing video and newsletter, held a lenders’ ‘‘lunch and learn,’’ and supported recruitment trips including an ICSC conference in Las Vegas. He said five new downtown businesses were recruited and that the updated marketing video will be unveiled at the July 17 developer forum.

Parker explained an unusually large March sales‑tax increase (reported at 159% year‑over‑year in the packet) as the result of a one‑time remittance tied to a single taxpayer or business that made a lump‑sum payment to the state comptroller, which then flowed to the city. He said the board should note that the March figure represents a settlement payment rather than steady monthly growth.

Parker provided social‑media and outreach metrics: 18 new newsletter subscribers, 71 Instagram followers, 148 Facebook followers, and gains on LinkedIn. He said staff met with local real‑estate owners and had one‑on‑one meetings with eight developers and 12 business owners in the business retention program.

Parker also reminded the board of two upcoming items: a developer forum on July 17 at the Municipal Complex (breakfast at 8:30 a.m., program at 9 a.m.) and a joint CDC/EDC board meeting with City Council on Aug. 7.

Board members asked for context on the sales‑tax spike and discussed whether to treat the March settlement as an outlier in future projections; staff recommended noting the event or excluding it from multi‑year trend projections to avoid misleading variance.

Parker said staff will continue outreach and present updated monthly reports to the board.