Roswell will do more to promote economic development in 2012 than at any time since 1839 when Roswell King built the first textile mill in north Georgia.

So says Mayor Jere Wood, who delivered his annual State of the City speech to Historic Roswell Kiwanis last week.

For the first time in his administration, the city council has made creating jobs, attracting investments and promoting businesses its top priority, Wood said.

“It’s a major shift in direction. It is palpable,” the mayor said the morning after his address to Kiwanis.

“There has been a shift in the council bent. I don’t think it was because I was that persuasive, I think it was because of the economy.”

A Strategic Economic Development Plan is in the works to see where Roswell stands in the competitive world of bringing in new businesses and provide a “road map” for attracting investment in the city. Two newly formed entities, the Downtown Development Authority and Roswell Business Alliance, are expected to play significant roles in those endeavors.

The city’s opportunity zone, which gives state tax credits for every new job created in Roswell, is being expanded and officials are talking to the Fulton County Development Authority to secure financing and tax relief for new employers.

To foster redevelopment, the council is considering a new zoning category that focuses on the appearance of buildings rather than use and density and has allocated $300,000 to develop a simplified and streamlined building code.

City revenues are essentially flat, Wood said. “Sales taxes are creeping up and property taxes are eroding a bit, but that’s because appraisals haven’t caught up with the market.”

City workers’ salaries are projected to rise 2 percent in 2012 and another 2 percent in 2016, he said, with no raises in between. “But I’m not sure I can hold that line,” Wood said. “I think we’re going to have to find more savings and new efficiencies.”

After this year, reserves will be spent down to $14 million, he said, and unless reserve policy is changed, capital investments will be limited to prior year savings, approximately $4 million per year.

To fund important, big ticket capital projects, elected officials will be proposing bond referendum this year to borrow $24 million. A list of potential projects to the tune of around $50 million will be put before the citizenry in the next few months and with public input, the list will be whittled down before a referendum in either July or November.

Before mentioning some of the city’s visible accomplishments in 2011, such as intersection im-provements at Holcomb Bridge Road and Ga. Hwy 9 and public restrooms at Don White Park, the mayor asked the Kiwanians what they considered the most signifi-cant.

The consensus? The roundabout at Grimes Bridge Road and Norcross Street/Warsaw Road.

“I wasn’t surprised,” the mayor said the following day. “It’s been wildly popular.”