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  around the city and you’ll see construction sites that will soon house new businesses. OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - An uprising trend of economic activity began last year as the nation came off the heels of the pandemic. One of those cities which have benefitted is Ocean Springs. Earlier this past week, we took a look at the new Bacchus on the Bayou restaurant, which opens this month. However, there are many more businesses that are preparing to open their doors this year in the City of Discovery. “2022 was a busy year,” said Daryll Stringfellow , an Ocean Springs building official. “It was surprising with the way the interest way was going. It was a very active year. We have several new businesses come into town and several new developments. One across from CVS will be a restaurant, and we’ll have four other businesses in there, one being a spa.”

  Lightfoot has generally avoided big property tax increases,  but has not avoided levy hikes to keep up with rising pension costs. The city’s levy under Lightfoot has risen from roughly $1.54 billion in 2020 to $1.73 billion in 2023. Her first budget raised the levy by $64 million. Her next included her largest increase, $94 million, followed by a $76 million rise the next year and $25 million for 2023, in which she waived her policy of tying increases to inflation. Lightfoot argued the inflation policy made practical sense for both the city and taxpayers, and also showed she had a political discipline that her predecessors lacked. This year’s waiver was possible thanks to better-than-expected revenues , but others suspected it was to avoid having an election-year property tax increase. City growth and development Most candidates said the city needs to grow to reduce the tax burden. In 2019, Lightfoot and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley set a goal of getting Chicago...