Business Newsletter - November 2019
Below is the monthly Business Newsletter for November 2019. The stories below detail important business news that the town wants to share with business leaders this month. If there is a topic you'd like to learn more about, or if there is a story that you'd like us to cover in a future edition, please contact us by clicking here.
Tax Bills - Mailed on 10/01
The Town mailed out tax bills to residents and businesses at the beginning of October for the first half of the fiscal year. The tax rate for fiscal year 2020 is $19.02. Tax bills are due by November 1st. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about your tax bill, please contact our Finance Department as soon as possible. The Department can be reached at (508) 347-2509.
MassDevelopment Roundtable - 11/13/2019
The Town of Sturbridge would like to invite you and your organization to a roundtable discussion with MassDevelopment on 13 November 2019 at 9:30am at the Center Office Building at 301 Main Street. This event is meant to help inform local banking institutions of the services that MassDevelopment can provide both to your institution and your clients.If you are unfamiliar with MassDevelopment, here is a brief overview from their website:
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, banks, and communities to stimulate economic growth. Through these collaborations we help create jobs, increase the number of housing units, revitalize urban environments, and address factors limiting economic growth including transportation, energy, and infrastructure deficiencies. During FY2019 MassDevelopment financed or managed 316 projects generating investment of more than $2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are estimated to create or support 9,743 jobs and building or preserve 1,992 housing units.
MassDevelopment’s collaborations with local banking institutions are a key component to growth in the Commonwealth. The diverse programs offered through this organization can help both you and the businesses you work with prosper. For these reasons we wanted to invite MassDevelopment to Sturbridge to help educate our local banking institutions on what MassDevelopment can offer.If you or anyone else from your institution would like to attend our event on 13 November, please RSVP with Kevin Filchak at kfilchak@town.sturbridge.ma.us. Additionally if you are interested in learning more about the organization, we encourage you to go to www.massdevelopment.com.
Sturbridge Group Tour Alliance - 11/14/2019
Old Sturbridge Village (OSV), through the financial assistance of the Sturbridge Tourist Association, is beginning a new initiative to bring bus tour groups back to Sturbridge. The goal is to help show that Sturbridge is a destination, not a stop over. To that end there will be a gathering of local stakeholders on 14 November from 8:30 to 11:00 to talk about the initiative and to hear from you, the business leaders in Sturbridge. If your business could benefit from this initiative, please use the information in the link above to register for the event. If you have questions about this event, please direct those to Debbie Mulcahy at Old Sturbridge Village at DMulcahy@OSV.ORG or 508-347-0394.
New Trail Guides - Now Available!
The Sturbridge Trails Committee has updated their hugely popular trail guides for 2019. Please click the link above to view the new guide. These are available for free to anyone who would like copies. If you'd like to have some copies to distribute at your business please contact us by clicking here and we'll provide you with some of these popular guides.
Branding and Marketing - Update
For FY2020 the Sturbridge Tourist Association has made it a goal to develop a community brand and to establish a marketing strategy for the next few years. To that end the STA hired a consultant to create the brand and develop those marketing strategies for the Town. At this time our consultant is conducting background research and is outreaching to community stakeholders (i.e. Town boards/committees, business leaders, community groups, etc.). If our consultant has outreached to you please take a few minutes and speak with them to help us better understand how best to promote our community.
We shall provide regular progress updates throughout this process.
Economic Development Strategy Development - Update
For FY2020 the Town of Sturbridge is conducting a study to benchmark where our economy is, and then to develop a strategy to grow it over the next few years. At this time our consultant is performing background research on our community, as well as conducting a resident survey to gain additional perspective (if you are a Sturbridge resident please take a few minutes and complete the survey). In the next month, we will be rolling out a business survey that we ask all business leaders in Sturbridge to complete. Your feedback will be vital to helping us develop strategies to better support our local economy and to see it grow in the coming years.
As with the branding strategy above, we shall provide regular progress updates.
Home of the Brave 5k - 11/16/2019
The first annual Home of the Brave 5k will take place on Saturday, November 16th starting at 9:00am on Maple Street (same day registration opens at 7:30am on Maple Street). All proceeds from the race will be donated to Veterans Inc and Project New Hope to support veterans in Worcester County. We encourage everyone to come and experience this race and support local veterans and military families in our community.
At the same time as the race, there will be a veterans resource fair on the Town Common running from 9:00am to noon. There are over thirty-five vendors who will be present to provide resources and services to military veterans and their families. This is an event not to be missed.
If you would like more information about the race, please follow the link above to the race website.
Town Meetings
Please click here to view all of the town meetings that are upcoming in November. Please note these members are subject to change as per Massachusetts General Law.