Business makes a difference

This past Saturday was a very full day. The new Seal Beach Fire Station #48 open house and dedication was at 9 am, the 3rd Annual Seal Beach Health Fair was at the Shops at Rossmoor from 10 am to 3 pm, and the St. Baldrick’s event at Hennesey’s on Main Street ran that afternoon as well.
What do all of these things have in common? They are demonstrations of businesses and government working together to produce improvements of the quality of our lives and the lives of others. Business PAYS and facilitates many things in our city.
Millard Fuller said it well, “For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people's love and concern for each other.” Business plays a vital role in that objective. Did you know that “shopping local” helps the city pay for essential services? Here’s how:
Under California sales tax law “Bradley Burns” 1% of the purchase price is returned to the local government based upon point of sale. Every time you shop local, our City gets more revenue to pay for services and projects – like street paving or emergency services. In the City of Seal Beach budget, this “local return” amounts to over $4 million, of $26 million budget. On top of this, there are license and use taxes – like business license fees and the transit occupancy tax (TOT) which also
One of the city’s top 25 sales tax producers, Energy Tubulars, recently announced their recommitted to Seal Beach, signed a 40-month lease. This is great news for our town! Good long term business tenants equal a stable, viable and flexible form of revenue for Seal Beach.
Did you know that Dendreon, a new manufacturing center is coming to the Boeing Center and is creating nearly 500 biotech, management and light manufacturing jobs? The Chamber of Commerce is working with Dendreon to try to fill some of those positions.
The Health Fair was the largest ever with nearly 100 vendors and close to 700 people who made it in and through the sea of tents and businesses. They were not just “hawking” their wares, but providing information, screenings and free services to our residents and visitors. It helps drive traffic to those merchants and the Shops at Rossmoor shopping center particularly. We are proud of our synergy with both the Los Alamitos and Cypress Chambers of Commerce who participated this year.
St. Baldrick’s at Hennesey’s shaved over 100 heads, raised over $15,000 for childhood cancer and helped provide excitement in our Main Street area, which all merchants enjoy. Where did all of those fabulous gift baskets come from? Our merchants. It was remarkable seeing what the event did for those children who attended and are affected – they were transformed with joy and love. Hopefully this will be an annual event and something you might attend in the future.
One of the issues our community might wish to ask more clearly is what kind of business do we want in Seal Beach? Some years ago, there was a proposal for a Costco - what kind of sales tax revenue might that have generated for our City?
All of this circles us back to Fire Station #48. It was paid for by our tax dollars and it is a credit to our community. I would not suggest that only business paid for it, but I would say that business participated in it, though taxes. We are proud of it, and I am optimistic that all of us in town are as well.
Finally, I would remind us all that the TOT tax, again as a business tax, went to provide resources for the storm drain management improvements. Based on what I saw at the last City Council meeting about flooding in Bridgeport, we will need all the funding resources we can get for yet more storm drain improvements. Please remember to shop local – it helps us all!