More May(be) Town Myths

There is a time honored tradition in politics to use fear as a strategy to get what you want. Sometimes fear is an appropriate response. Sometimes it isn't. The developers of May(be) Town Center have tried not to disappoint in this regard by creating something that goes bump in our economic night. What scares us so? Why Williamson County, of course. It isn't actually a county to our south. No, Williamson County, according to May Town Center folks is nothing less than an economic tsunami that threatens our future.

We looked at some of Williamson County's growth numbers yesterday and it appears the truth is not quite so threatening. In fact, it appears much of old WilCo's growth can be accounted for by increases in residential and farm values. One can probably assume all that residential land is populated by people who work in Williamson, Rutherford and, yes, even Davidson County.

Today I got stats from the wonderful folks at the Davidson County Assessor's Office. Seems like things haven't been too shabby here in Nashville either. Between 1994 and 2008, Davidson County's assessed valuation went from $7.784 billion to $16.479 billion - about 111%. Of the $8.694 billion in increased valuation, $5.130 billion or 59% is attributable to our residential and farm growth. Not as much as Williamson County's 70% - but still pretty strong.

Ironicially, our commercial and industrial tax base accounted for 34% of the total growth. That is 10% more than Williamson County. In fact, Davidson County's commercial/industrial tax base grew 89% from 1994 to 2008. Williamson County's percentage growth rate is higher at 400% but you tend to find those kind of percentages when you are working with small numbers. Williamson County's commercial tax base is still just 24% of Nashville's.

I am not saying we don't need to keeping working on those things that attract employers to our county. We do. But our formula since 1994 has been to focus on those things we are good at and make us unique. We are not Cool Springs and they are not us.