“This is Early’s Time to Shine.” 

That was the theme of this year’s Early, TX State of the City address given by Mayor Robert Mangrum. Filling the room of the Early Visitors and Events Center were many sponsors, guests, and of course, the media, who were able to hear from Mayor Mangrum on the growth and development that has been occurring in the City of Early. 

First and foremost, Mayor Mangrum addressed an addition that will be constructed to the new Town Center project. Two juniors at Early High School, Ayrn Leslie and Reese Estes, who are part of the Texas Midwest Community Network, have created and developed a sundial that will be constructed in the new Town Center. Their project is called Time to Shine. 

“When we first started brainstorming what we wanted to do we quickly came across the idea of incorporating something new into this town center, said Aryn Leslie. “It started off kind of patchy in a stone henge-type setting and we modeled it and made our project into something of a sundial.”

“TMCN just allows us to be able to communicate with other schools within Texas so we can present our project and we can do something that lets kids get involved in the processes of how a project comes to light,” said Reese Estess. 

After recognizing Leslie and Estes, Mayor Mangrum discussed the exceptionable growth that the City of Early is experiencing. “We are growing. There are two reasons obviously for this. Growth creates momentum and creates more growth, and if businesses come, it brings more people, brings growth, adds revenue to the economy here locally.”

Additionally, he stated that the migration of people moving from urban to rural areas has added to the growth. “As we move through the years to come, you will see it more and more with people leaving the metropolitan areas and moving further out,” said Mangrum.

All of this, Mangrum says, “brings property development, increases in sales tax, and hotel tax,” which are the key factors of Early’s growth. 

“We have the lowest property tax of any taxing entity in Brown County,” said Mangrum. The City of Early has lowered its property tax rate to 27% this last taxing year. 

The sales tax revenue also provides the City of Early the ability to suppress the property tax rate. According to data provided by the City of Early, the sales tax revenue has more than doubled the City of Early’s property tax revenue. Additionally, over the last five years, the sales tax in the City of Early has grown by 215% and the collections of 2021/2022 were 1.51 million. For this year, the data says, sales tax collections to data are 1.69 million and they are expected to outperform collections again. “We are projecting almost twice what we budgeted when we put together our budget for sales tax revenue,” said Mangrum, “That means more money for the city to do projects.”

Lastly, data provided by the City of Early showed that Hotel Occupancy tax collections have grown by 304% over the last five years. Tourism has greatly added to this revenue, plus the location of Early for travelers coming through or coming for other activities in the surrounding area. 

Mayor Mangrum then moved on to commend the departments of the City of Early. Mangrum especially highlighted the results of their hard work from the past year and how all of the departments are effective in their work for Early through a cost-effective budget. 

“Police Shine Through Professionalism.” Police Chief David Mercer, who started in 2008, oversees and trains his staff to a high level of professionalism. The Early police department last year conducted 624 traffic stops, investigated 1300 calls, and protected the community from criminal activity. 

“Fire Department Shines Through Service.” Fire Chief Chad Hill leads 5 full-time and 15 part-time firefighters, plus 12 volunteers. “Over time we are moving from a volunteer firefighter structure to a full-time professional fire department,” said Mangrum.

“Parks and Recreation Department Shines Through Commitment.” Director David Gist leads a team of 5 that work on all the parks in the city of Early. Additionally, to manage the budget the city uses in-house labor. Thus, the parks and recreation department save the city 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of dollars.

“Public Works Department Shines Through Dedication.” “We can’t say enough about these guys,” said Mangrum. “These are the ones that get out in the middle of the worst weather” to do their job. Nathan Land leads the public works department, taking care of Early’s water, sewer, and sanitation services daily. The public works department seeks to keep citizens informed about any maintenance schedules and repairs through social media and other forms of media.

“Convention and Visitors Bureau Shines Through Passion.” Denise Hudson-Brian leads through passion. “The visit early visit often is known all over the state,” said Mangrum. The event center in Early is rented nearly 100 times per year

“Municipal Development District Shines Through Recruitment.” Larry McConn, Assistant City Manager and Director of Economic Development, leads MDD to recruit private investment in Early. The Early MDD is represented at several retail conventions. This helps bolster existing businesses with grants for upgrades.

After commending the City of Early departments, Mayor Mangrum discussed the Town Center Project, and the current developments and completions of it were described by City Administrator Tony Aaron through a video played of him and the Mayor.

Mayor Mangrum then examined how the City of Early manages inflation while funding projects. “As a history professor, I can tell you we’ve always had inflation. But the last couple of years have really been seeing some pretty good increases,” said Mangrum. “That’s the biggest challenge we have.”

Mangrum said that Early has to shine through sound decision-making. Mangrum revealed that Early uses in-house labor to cut costs on projects. They reach out for grants and focus on going out for bids for labor-only projects and purchasing materials for construction projects themselves.

The last highlight of the State of the City Address was a video played for the audience voiced over by Ricky Ray who is the City of Early‘s Executive Assistant / Marketing and Communication Specialist. “Our businesses are growing; our economy is growing; we are growing,” said Ricky Ray. “It’s clear to see that it really is Early’s time to shine.”

The video highlighted businesses both old and new that add to the success of Early, TX. Bringing in businesses diversifies the sales tax and allows for an increase in revenue during times of a slower economy. “We’re consistently working to diversify our sales tax base so that in times of a slower economy the city council is not dependent on property tax alone,” said Larry McConn, Assistant City Administrator and Director of Economic Development. “It is because of this increased sales base contributing more sales tax income within the city, that the city council can continue to reduce our property tax rate.”

At the end of it all, Mayor Mangrum concluded that Early, Texas is making its spot on the map to be a thriving and flourishing community with lots more to come in the future. “I do believe, I think my council would agree, that Early’s time to shine is now,” said Mangrum. “Thank you for coming.”