Ernie Rains

Economy Support for Small Businesses, startups and existing businesses, to include minimizing city permit fees, license fees, and employment taxes. Defining what is a small business is step one. Taxes / Budget For every financial incentive given to large businesses, similar support should be provided to our small businesses, new and existing. Budget constraints and funds management may be the key to making this happen. Economy Find ways to support our historic downtown businesses, and make Opelika a haven for small businesses. Infrastructure / Transportation Encouraging infrastructure improvements to align with any recruiting of large businesses. If a moratorium of such recruitment is needed, then that will be supported. Let’s prioritize the elimination of end of day bottlenecks costing our citizens gas money and delaying their return home.