As both your mayor and a Marysville resident raising a family here, I am honored to have a unique view of our city’s growth and progress.

I appreciate services the city provides that contribute to our enviable quality of life – one that is attracting new businesses and residents while retaining Marysville’s community charm and character.

Because the city has been fiscally prudent in these past several post-recession years, we have a solid financial foundation from which to work. An improving economy brings its own challenges: investing in economic development, diversifying our employment base and providing infrastructure to meet the needs of businesses coming our way. This high-growth phase coupled with the fiscal discipline of the last several years provides the opportunity to move forward on projects.

This is an exciting opportunity to enhance the quality of life for all residents with new community amenities. People rely on cities for core services like public safety, streets, utilities and parks. In Marysville, this second balanced biennial budget will continue to deliver and improve upon those services as we envision and work toward an even brighter future.

•Downtown Revitalization: Develop Waterfront Park and new trail system; build First Street Bypass; improve and beautify 1st and 3rd streetscapes

•North End Economic Development: Build streets and utility infrastructure for Smokey Point Industrial Center and in Lakewood neighborhood

•Public Safety: Increase patrol presence in neighborhoods; transition successful Regional Property Crimes Unit to regular staffing unit; increase community outreach and engagement; create new Community Services Unit incorporating Code Enforcement, Community Service Officer and Parks security; continue Regional Fire Authority discussions with city of Arlington and Fire District #12

•Transportation: Widen State Avenue (100th to 116th); continue to pursue potential improvements to 88th Street NE intersection; overlays on Grove Street, 67th Avenue NE, 51st Avenue NE (2017) and Sunnyside Boulevard (2018).

•Parks, Culture and Recreation: Expand programming and events for Marysville Opera House; begin to realize vision for Mother Nature’s Window

•Preliminary 2017 Budget $133 million

•Preliminary 2018 Budget $137 million

Sound foundational strategies have served the city well by funding core services while building reserves. The city refinanced debt to take advantage of lower interest rates, saving $2.15 million over the remaining 10-year term. I’m proud of our nine years of clean financial audits and a bond rating upgrade in 2016 by Moody’s from A1 to Aa3. It is always our goal and practice to maximize the value of each tax dollar with high-quality services and to leverage our existing revenue with grant money from outside of our community.

I am pleased to report that this focus from city staff consistently brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding resulting in lasting improvements for our community.

We want to hear from you. A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at City Hall, 1049 State Ave. I encourage Marysville residents to share your priorities and suggestions as we work together to move this strong city forward.

Jon Nehring is the mayor of Marysville. His column runs monthly.