Fort Valley Area Doing Well

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41 NBC/WMGT) – Success has been the trend in the city of Fort Valley.

New businesses opened their doors for the first time and millions of dollars have been given to the government for road projects and renovations.

There have been five new businesses that have opened in the last 90 days

Mayor John Stumbo has figured out what’s bringing the success to the area

“We’ve got a really good balance between residential development, commercial development, and industrial development,” Stumbo said. “We’re blessed to have all three of those sectors of the society and we’re pretty pleased with that.”

Another factor that’s helping Fort Valley is how close the city is to interstate. Travelers bring what Mayor Stumbo calls “new money” to the area.

“As travel increase on i-75, we see about 30% of our sales tax dollars in Peach County come from people who don’t live in Peach County, Stumbo said.”

He told 41 NBC that the key to success for Fort Valley is not only it’s proximity to the interstate, but also the government’s efforts to decrease debt.

“Well 4 years ago, we kind of saw this coming and we shut down our borrowing, so we’ve been keeping our trash trucks together with duck tape and wire, trying to get through this time, Stumbo said.”

The city has been cutting back on expenses and looking for grants and other sources of revenue.

Florence Simpson owns Pizazz Boutique on Main Street in Fort Valley and has been in the city since 2012. She’s seen great things since she’s been in the area.

“Oh my gosh, [Fort Valley is], a friendly town with friendly people it has been awesome for me”

Her business used to be in another part of middle Georgia and she decided to move to Fort Valley to bring more customers to her.

“Most of the people were used to leaving here to go to their town, but they don’t do it anymore, they come to Pizazz!!”