Kingsport saw strong growth, opportunities in 2022
Kingsport City Manager Chris McCartt and Mayor Pat Shull delivered their State of the City report Thursday morning to more than 200 city, county and state officials, business, and education and community leaders.
The 9th annual event was held at the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
The State of the City is an annual report given by the mayor and city manager about the overall well-being of the Model City and includes information on finances, economic development efforts, demographics, recent accomplishments and future projects.
During Thursday’s event, Mayor Shull gave former Mayor Dennis Phillips a key to the city and praised him for his decades of community and volunteer service to the City of Kingsport.
“Many of the projects we’re seeing come to fruition today started under Mayor Phillips’ tenure as mayor,” Shull said. “I’d like to personally thank him for all he has done and continues to do for Kingsport.”
Kingsport saw strong growth in all sectors of its economy during the 2022 fiscal year. Revenues grew by nearly $7.25 million sales tax collections rose by $2.4 million and the city was able to return more than $4.2 million to the city’s rainy day fund.
“We’re making the right decisions, taking a conservative approach to budgeting and the result is the city’s financial health is strong and sound,” said McCartt.
Kingsport continues to see record growth in residential and commercial development. Nearly 2,000 families have moved to Kingsport from outside the region since 2020 and currently more than 2,500 housing units are in some stage of development.
In 2021, Kingsport saw letters of intent on 110,000 square feet of commercial space. This year the square footage has risen to more than 137,000 square feet of space or nearly a 25% increase.
A number of proud moments took place earlier this year in Kingsport such as opening the Scott Adams Memorial Skatepark, dedicating the new legacy trail at Bays Mountain Park, approving a developer for Brickyard Village and celebrating the Kingsport Carousel being named one of the nicest places in America by Reader’s Digest magazine.
Other projects wrapped up in 2022 include the Kingsport Fire Department’s fire training facility, pickleball courts at the V.O. Dobbins Sr. Center, athletic courts at the Lynn View Community Center, a new atrium at the Kingsport Renaissance Center and improvements at Allandale Mansion.
Finally, Kingsport officials expressed their excitement about projects either in the works or coming in the near future. These include a pump track at Brickyard Park, greenspace on Cement Hill, and the Main Street rebuild project, improvements to the Kingsport Public Library and Bays Mountain Park and an expansion of the Kingsport Justice Center.
“Kingsport has strong momentum and is moving forward on many fronts, especially with housing and quality of life issues,” McCartt said. “I believe our future definitely looks bright.”
