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Aurora staff outline retail strategy and report modest sales-tax growth
Summary
Business-development staff presented a retail strategy implementation plan focused on process clarity, clean-and-safe initiatives and marketing; staff said sales tax was up 4.7% year-over-year but council members noted some year-to-date comparisons are down and urged targeted support measures.
Cindy Perry, manager of Business Development in Planning and Economic Development, briefed the committee on the retail strategy steering committee's recent work, an implementation plan and early action items intended to attract tenants and support local businesses.
Perry said staff completed three steering-committee meetings and drafted an implementation plan that prioritizes an efficient and predictable development-review process, clean-and-safe programs, targeted marketing, and both financial and nonfinancial incentives. She said staff will vet the plan with internal and external partners, assign a lead staff member for implementation and produce an annual report to track progress.
On sales tax, Perry said the city's finance data shows year-over-year growth of about 4.7%. Council Member Bergen added context that a separate year-to-date comparison is down 2.9% for a more recent period and said that the committee should consider tiered approaches and fast-track options to support retail recovery.
Staff said they will pursue outreach at national and local industry events (ICSC/ICSE) and continue work with the Small Business Development Center to translate strategy into actionable programs such as façade-improvement incentives and tenant roundtables.
Council members recommended that staff consider prioritizing early "low-hanging fruit" items that can be fast-tracked and to report quarterly on key performance indicators tied to the implementation plan.
