The past year has been an unusual and unprecedented time.

But in it, Gilbert continued to grow with new residents and new or expanding businesses.

This means there are more residents for the town to serve. Most services are provided using sales tax revenues.

Gilbert has been very lucky during the pandemic—there was only one month where sales tax revenue was less than the prior year. Sales from April 2020 were 1% lower than April 2019. Since then, sales tax revenues have recovered and are trending 10% higher than before the Pandemic. This indicates the great support our residents have provided to Gilbert businesses as well as the new residents and businesses that continue to make Gilbert home.

Sales tax revenues are used to take care of our parks, provide recreation programming, support our police and fire services, fund the Gilbert Municipal Court, and more.

Gilbert’s financial responsibility remains as stable as those services. In March 2021, one of the three national credit rating agencies reaffirmed Gilbert’s AAA credit rating, which is the highest rating possible. Gilbert is one of less than 50 cities nationwide with a AAA rating from all three major agencies.

We are looking forward to continuing the innovative services developed during the Pandemic, like video inspections for building permits and online plan reviews. We are also looking forward to the return of some traditional services like special events and full sports league programs.

No matter what comes our way, we will continue to spend wisely and make smart investments as we shape a new tomorrow, today.