Business View Civil and Municipal | April/May 2022

26 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 tax to the county, schools, and fire department. Not having a city property tax can be good from that perspective, but it can also be challenging.” Fairview Heights is successful at using creative solutions to navigate difficult situations such as the recent pandemic. Since the city depends on sales tax, it was a massive challenge when stores and restaurants suddenly needed to close. That challenge came to the forefront in March 2020, when the rise of COVID infections led to business shutdowns statewide. Fairview Heights felt the bite of lost sales tax immediately without a pool of funds from property tax. Fortunately, city leaders were able to pivot through the pandemic. At the close of 2019, the city had launched the ‘All in Fairview Heights’ marketing campaign to increase retail sales per square foot. The campaign was an online program using influencers on several different social media platforms and also deployed a new A SMART ENERGY PARTNER INVESTED IN YOUR SUCCESS Collaborative Expertise And Smart Solutions. Access to sites, accelerated speed to market, reliability, and affordability make doing business in the Ameren Illinois service territory a smart choice. We work to understand your business and collaborate with you to help identify the best location, savings opportunities and energy solutions to meet your unique growth requirements. See how Ameren Illinois can power your business growth at amerenillinois.com/EconomicDevelopment ILLINOIS city leaders always find resourceful ways to fill the empty space with a new tenant. Once signature example was the transformation of a regional strip center in 2016 into a power center offering Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, DICK’S Sporting Goods, PetSmart and the first Fresh Thyme location in the St. Louis metro area. This past year, that same center revitalized outlots for JPMorgan Chase Bank and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. Local retail support like this is especially critical in Fairview Heights because it’s just about the state’s only city that doesn’t levy a municipal property tax. Paul Ellis, Director of Economic Development, explains, “Sales tax is king here, although residents do pay property