Tax dollars are incredibly valuable to small community, no matter how those dollars come.

We have learned in the past week that Popeye’s in Valley will open Dec. 31 and another fast food franchise, Jack’s, is starting construction soon on a new building. Although, those businesses aren’t the ones that are employing hundreds of people or a new industry in Greater Valley Area — one thing it does do is create more sales tax dollars for the region.

Sales tax can be a dirty word throughout some communities, but it’s a vital commodity for any small town. Property taxes generally pay for the schools and the meat of most budgets in municipal governments, but sales taxes pay for the additional amenities that make our cities look good.

It’s not something that any of us like to pay. Most of us would rather keep our $0.10 cents a dollar when we make a purchase, but it’s a necessary cost to keep cities running properly.

One other thing new businesses do for the region is create more jobs, whether or not those jobs go to somebody who is struggling to find work, somebody who needs to pick up a second job to make ends meet or a young person getting their first job.

Businesses like Popeye’s and Jack’s will give those individuals a chance to make some money. It may not be a financial windfall, but anything in the bank account is better than nothing at all.

Those skills are especially important when it comes to our young men and women in high school or just starting at local colleges, such as Point University. These jobs gives those individuals a chance to learn responsibility, people skills, a work ethic and a chance to earn a few dollars for themselves. Spending money that you make yourself usually gives you a better feeling than something that is just handed to you.

It also lightens the load on the parents supporting those high school students when they have some money of their own.

We know it’s not always exciting when we hear about businesses like fast food restaurants, but remember some of those people opening those franchises are people who want to invest in the Greater Valley Area.

Most of the time with fast food franchises, those people are taking risks after spending thousands of dollars in franchise fees and building costs.

Those business owners also have to provide the level or service and quality we expect otherwise those businesses will fail.

New business is never a bad thing in any community, as well as new tax dollars injected into the area.