I think things are going to heat up about Chantilly Parkway not being inside the city limits. In my opinion, this has to be annexed into the City of Montgomery, simply because it's sitting on unincorporated Montgomery County, but receiving city resources. Before years end this will be a revenue MACHINE.
Mayor: Tax rate gives new Wal-Mart an unfair advantage
By Paul W. Sullivan
and Rick Harmon
Montgomery Advertiser
Wal-Mart employees greeted the opening of the area's newest supercenter on Chantilly Parkway in pep rally fashion, but not everyone is cheering the retail giant's store.
The problem for Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright and for nearby businesses is the new store's location, just outside the city limits of Montgomery and outside the Pike Road community.
Because of this, the new Wal-Mart can charge 61/2 cents sales tax instead of the 83/4 cents charged by Pike Road or the 10 cents charged by the city of Montgomery.
Merchants within the city of Montgomery, less than a mile from the new Wal-Mart, say this gives the superstore an unfair advantage. Bright says the superstore and other stores that are opening at Chantilly, including Home Depot, are using city resources without paying their fair share.
Bright has said the stores at Chantilly were allowed to hook up to city water and sewer lines, an oversight he said he will ensure does not occur again. These stores will pay the same sewer and water fees as others in the city, but not the taxes that go to build and maintain the utility systems.
"About 90 percent of the people shopping at those businesses will be from Montgomery, yet the city won't be getting sales tax," Bright said previously, during a regular weekly meeting with the media.
"It's not right. It's not fair, and that's why it's important for me to let the people of the city of Montgomery know about it. The people of the city should rise up (and stop shopping there) because we don't need a big retailer locating themselves right on the outskirts of our city limits and draining our resources -- not if we are going to continue to pay our police and firemen and maintain our city services," he said.
Eric Brewer, director of public affairs for Wal-Mart, said the company did not want to insert itself into local issues. He did say that cities have talked to Wal-Mart about becoming part of their municipality.
"Wal-Mart is happy to operate in whatever municipality we find ourselves in," he said. "Municipalities have contacted us, but we have not entered into any negotiations or stated a preference, and will not."
Managers of competing stores are less hesitant to comment. Most expect a drop in sales.
Mike Cartee, the manager of the Bruno's on East Chase Parkway, less than a mile from the Wal-Mart, even has a Wal-Mart "Defense Manual" stressing the advantages -- from its high quality meat market, deli, bakery to its customer service -- that Bruno's has over Wal-Mart.
Still, he expects to lose customers to the nearby supercenter.
"We'll do the best we can, but we aren't happy," Cartee said.
Likewise, EastChase Target manager Danielle Prevo said she expected a drop in sales. But she is upbeat and believes Target's emphasis on friendly service will help it compete.
Not all competitors were upset about Wal-Mart's opening.
Susan George, co-owner of Steaks DeVine wine and meat shop in Somerset shopping center, basically said bring it on.
"The store will bring more traffic on Atlanta Highway," said George, whose store is on Atlanta Highway across from the Lake Forest neighborhood. "Wal-Mart is not a competitor of ours because our meat is better quality and our service is better."
The lower sales tax that is irritating the city of Montgomery and some of the competing businesses located within its limits is having the opposite effect on some consumers.
Pat Tatum, 53, a retired state worker who lives in Carriage Hills, was aware of the lower sales tax before the store opened Wednesday, and specifically came out because of the money it will save her.
Wynlakes resident Doris Gramm, 75, was one of many shoppers who got up early Wednesday for the 8 a.m. opening so she could see the inside of one of her favorite stores.
The retired nurse said she's one of many people living in the upper-scale areas of east Montgomery who she believes will frequent Wal-Mart.
"I've been shopping at Wal-Mart for 15 years," she said. "Everybody in Wynlakes shops at Wal-Mart."
And there is plenty to shop for at this Wal-Mart. The supercenter, which employs 450 people, occupies 203,856 square feet. It sports a drive-through garden center, a two-lane drive-through pharmacy, an in-store Subway sandwich shop, an Auburn-Alabama collegiate store and many other new features, according to store manager Mary Jo House.
But for Montgomery's outspoken mayor, the shops at Chantilly represent lost revenue, not new shopping opportunities.
"We don't need businesses ripping the city of Montgomery off, and that is exactly what they are trying to do by locating themselves right over the city limits and using our services without paying any sales taxes like other businesses here do," Bright said.
He said he realizes that at this point there's nothing he can do about his objection -- that a business using city services was leeching revenue from the city -- but said the issue is too important for the city to let it go.
"They are already there using city services, and we are going to have to deal with it," he said. "But they are going to have to be paying a surcharge, or at least be paying more than the people of Montgomery are paying. These people are reaping the benefits of our services without paying for them, and all the people who go and shop there from Montgomery are supporting them in what they are doing."
Bright said another possible option could be incorporating the area into the city of Montgomery. Pike Road Mayor Gordon Stone attended the grand opening and said he would love to have the area in the city of Pike Road.
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