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Work is underway to repair and rebuild homes in the area and revitalize downtown Jackson. City officials estimate that cleaning up the tornado damage will cost Jackson $3.5 million. The city hopes to receive $9 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

A glimmer of financial hope has appeared from increasing post-tornado sales tax revenue, which began to grow sharply as sales of building supplies skyrocketed.

From January to May 2003, Jackson’s local sales tax revenues were slipping downhill, falling more than 5% in a given month.

Then in June, after the tornado, sales tax income flattened, and in July it grew 9.5% over the previous year. Holding strong from August to November, increases ranged from 7.1% to 22.4%, and December figures—including holiday shopping—are expected to be high.

But what may seem like a windfall is really only a little bump for the financially strapped local government, according to City Recorder Russ Truell, who says only about two-thirds of the revenue increase—up by $478,762 in 2003 for the July through October period—can be directly attributed to the tornado. Broader economic fluctuations are responsible for the other third.

Truell’s long-term projections of the tornado’s impact are pretty sobering.

“Odds are we will have a falloff in the next three years because we’ll have no more roofs to put on,” Truell says. “And individuals and businesses will pay higher insurance rates, which takes money out of our system and out of people’s pockets.”

Marci Harris, Jackson’s tornado recovery coordinator, holds a more optimistic view. With the present and future in mind, Harris has been working with downtown merchants and government officials to redevelop the area and encourage investment in downtown and East Jackson through various incentives.

Harris expects to see more long-term construction jobs and says one big project every six months would continue the momentum in the long-term and create interest in the downtown area.

For now, Truell says that even though the local sales tax revenue is up, most of it goes to the city’s schools, and the remaining income funds projects like repairing roads around malls—items related to the collection of sales tax.

Furthermore, he says the post-tornado sales tax revenue increase is offset by a drop in property tax collections, which are expected to be $560,000 less than the amount figured prior to the tornado because assessment values shrink on property with destroyed or damaged buildings.

Nonetheless, Harris keeps her chin up: “There’s so much going on in Jackson—all over the city. I’m hopeful this will be an impetus for the kind of growth we saw in the ’90s.”

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