VestaviaVoice.com
December 2013
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Volume 1 | Issue 8 | December 2013
Anatomy of a sales tax dollar
Holiday Parade
By REBECCA WALDEN and JEFF THOMPSON
The annual Holiday Parade will feature an extended route this year. Read about this year’s festivities inside.
Community page 24
Relay for Life
Community page 19
See CYCLES | page 25
See TAX | page 25
Cahaba Cycles Service Manager Ian Newman works on a donated children’s bike. Cahaba Cycles has a goal to receive and refurbish 100 donated bikes by the start of the new year. Photo by Katie Turpen.
Old wheels,
new purpose By KATIE TURPEN
Relay for Life at VHHS was named a Top5 Youth Event in the country this year.
and his cycle crew are doing something extra special to make sure that community members in need of bikes receive them. The store’s holiday trade
When you spend $1 in the city and the register rings up $1.09, do you ever wonder what happens to that 9 cents? “Shop Vestavia Hills” — you hear it all over town, and that 9 cents is why. The power to create change in your community might be most evident on your ballots, but it’s also in your wallet. While ad valorem, or property tax, is the City of Vestavia Hills’ largest, most stable source of revenue, a sizable portion never reaches the annual budget. It’s shaved off and delivered to the Vestavia Hills Board of Education. Rather, the city relies on sales tax revenue to support its general fund, and that fund serves as the foundation for city functions. It provides operational expenses for just about everything — from patrol cars to concession stand receipt paper. And it’s distributed according to the wishes of the Vestavia Hills City Council along guidelines set in the budget.
Faris Malki takes pride that his business is about more than selling fresh sets of wheels. As owner of Cahaba Cycles on Cahaba Heights Road, he tries to
participate in at least 100 charity events a year. “We are involved in a lot of school safety clinics,” Malki said. “We also work with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the area.” And this holiday season, Malki
Sugar plum fairies find a home in Vestavia Hills
INSIDE City ..................... 5 Business ............ 8 Food ................... 10 Community ....... 12
School House .. 19 Sports ............... 23 Calendar ........... 26
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The cast of The Magic City Nutcracker poses after a Saturday morning rehearsal. The production premieres on Dec. 6 at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church. For more, see page 15. Photo by Katie Turpen.
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