Walton College to Host Workshop on Strong Towns

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Applied Sustainability Center at the Sam M. Walton College of Business will host a workshop on ways to improve city budgets, strengthen local tax bases and reduce the burden on taxpayers on Thursday, April 3, on the University of Arkansas campus. The workshop is jointly hosted by the Applied Sustainability Center and the University of Central Arkansas’ Center for Community and Economic Development.

Chuck Marohn, co-founder and president of Strong Towns, will conduct the workshop to be held in room 302 in Willard J. Walker Hall. Admission is $25 per person. Register at www.asc.uark.edu.

Strong Towns is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that helps America’s towns achieve financial strength and resiliency. Marohn is a professional engineer, member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns (Volume 1). He is also primary author of the Strong Towns blog and host of the Strong Towns Podcast and See it Differently TV.  

“This workshop is geared toward city planners, mayors, city financial directors, city council representatives, public works directors and economic development professionals,” said Michele Halsell, director of the Applied Sustainability Center. “It is an opportunity to learn from one of the best in the field about ways to grow and strengthen your community in a way that is sustaining.” 

Workshop participants will learn how to identify and create financially productive places that require fewer city services and subsidies, how to build a strong tax base using an incremental public investment strategy, how to build streets that create financial value and how cities on a limited budget can respond to congestion. Marohn and Strong Towns staff members promote an understanding of the costs associated with community growth. In their view, the current approach to growth emphasizes investments in new infrastructure, has caused economic stagnation and decline and left America’s towns dependent on public subsidies. The Strong Town approach focuses on obtaining a higher return on existing infrastructure, tax base and resources to cover long-term financial commitments. For more information, visit www.strongtowns.org.