If it’s spring in Virginia, it’s budget season. Along with rain showers and early flowers, there will be meetings with local government officials to discuss the value of your Main Street program and why it matters. Here are some tips for budget season and beyond:

• Share your revitalization statistics both for the previous year and cumulatively. Collecting data on performance metrics (jobs, businesses, housing units, sales tax, etc.) may seem dry and boring. However, these numbers are critical tools for government decision makers who must weigh the impact of every choice that they make. Help them be fully informed!
• If your community is an Advancing Virginia Main Street (AVMS) or Mobilizing Main Street (MMS) participant, remind your local government about its resolution and/or MOU to support the local Main Street organization.
• Collecting sales and property tax data for your district can take some effort on the part of your local government, especially the first time that they do it. However, once the process has been worked out, try to get your local government officials in the habit of doing it with you every year. This provides a window into their return on investment, providing information about trends in real estate investment, visitor spending, and the impact of macroeconomic trends.
• Share renderings delivered to your property owners through the Virginia Main Street (VMS) architect. If the renderings are followed by actual building projects, show the before-and-after pictures as well.
• If there are key real estate projects having an impact on your downtown, provide status updates and anticipating impacts in terms of job creation and tax revenue generation.
• Reference your downtown master plan’s measurable goals and note which ones have seen progress this year. If you don’t have a master plan, get on that!
• Reference your organization’s annual work plan and its measurable goals, noting progress on both activities completed and outcomes expected.
• Present information about event attendance and results last, in order to place emphasis on the non-event related work that you do. Main Street is often perceived as event-heavy when in fact events are only about 25% of the overall picture.
• If you have annual report, share it!

Make a new budget year resolution in July that someone on your board or paid staff (mix it up) will present to your local council at least quarterly, not just during annual budget season. Remember that the financial support from the local government is not a charitable donation, but is an investment in the activities that improve the district and the community. Be visible and prepared to talk about your results all year long!

Image Credit: Town of Tazewell