No WhiteWash!

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance recently published a list of Best Cities for the Next Decade.

Learn more about how they picked the Best Cities for the Next Decade.

Also they published a list  367 U.S. metropolitan areas that can be sorted and ranked by different criteria.

In the example below, all metro areas in Tennessee have been extracted.  The table below was sorted by median household income.  We see that the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA has the lowest median household income for the Tennessee metro areas ranked and also has a higher cost of living than the other Tennessee metro areas listed below.

Furthermore, Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA median household income rank is 353 out of a total of 367 U.S. metro areas.  This shows that there were 14 metro areas that had a lower median household income than the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA metro area.

Click here for the entire list of 367 metro areas.  The list can be sorted online or downloaded in spreadsheet format.

I am sure that our local City, County, and State elected officials will want to keep this data from getting out.

A new survey from Gallup and Franklin-based Healthways Inc shows that the Kingsport area is ranked as the bottom ten cities for overall well being.  It appears that the physical, emotional, social and professional aspects of folks in the Kingsport area has helped drag the State of Tennessee to its low scores.

I wonder how our elected leaders will “spin” this study to make themselves look good.  Maybe, they might try even more to spend more money to help their cause.  So far the out of control spending for pet projects by our local elected officials has not seemed to work.

The Kingsport area has managed to get lots of national media attention with this study.

Nashville-area residents have the highest well-being among Tennesseans, although the state as a whole continues to rank near the bottom nationally when it comes to overall quality of life.

That’s the conclusion of two reports published today by Gallp and Franklin-based Healthways Inc. The reports are based on more than 350,000 surveys completed in 2009 that measure how respondents are faring in all aspects of their daily lives: physically, emotionally, socially and professionally.

Nashville ranks 63rd among 185 cities nationwide in the city-level report, up 22 spots from 2008. In report-card terms, that’s the equivalent of a B. Memphis and Knoxville scored Ds, while Chattanooga and Kingsport both graded an F.

In fact, Kingsport ranks among the bottom 10 cities nationwide in overall well-being, scoring dead last in the categories of life evaluation and physical health. Fort Smith, Ark., came in last overall, while Boulder, Colo. topped the list.

In the state-level report, Tennessee ranks 42nd, the same as in 2008. The bright spot was work environment, where the state ranks 12th. Hawaii had the highest well-being among states, while West Virginia had the lowest.

Gallup and Healthways published state and congressional district rankings for 2008. But this is the first time since polling began in January 2008 that city rankings have been announced.

“It’s our hope that these rankings are not treated as competition, but as a wake-up call,” said Anne Wilkins, Healthways’ chief strategy officer. “Even the highest-ranked cities and states have room for improvement, and hopefully communities can look at these rankings and figure out how to improve the lives of their citizens.”

Gallup and Healthways entered into a 25-year partnership in 2008 with the goal of creating an official statistic for the daily state of health and well-being in the United States.

Aggregating 1,000 calls a day, 350 days a year, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is the largest behavioral economic database ever created and is expected to generate more than 9 million individual responses over the next quarter-century.

Healthways provides specialized, comprehensive medical solutions for insurers and employers to help patients manage and improve their health and reduce health care costs.

The company ranks No. 16 on Nashville Business Journal’s list of largest public companies in Middle Tennessee with revenue of $789.5 million in 2008.

Best and worst

Top 10 Cities Overall 1. Boulder, Colo. 2. Holland, Mich. 3. Honolulu, Hawaii 4. Provo, Utah 5. Santa Rosa, Calif. 6. Santa Barbara, Calif. 7. San Jose, Calif. 8. Washington, D.C. 9. Ogden, Utah 10. Oxnard, Calif.

Bottom 10 Cities Overall 1. Fort Smith, Ark. 2. Huntington, W. Va. 3. Lake Havasu City, Ariz. 4. Johnstown, Penn. 5. Modesto, Calif. 6. Charleston, W.Va. 7. Flint, Mich. 8. Youngstown, Ohio 9. Kingsport, Tenn. 10. Shreveport, La.

Top 10 States Overall 1. Hawaii 2. Utah 3. Montana 4. Minnesota 5. Iowa 6. Vermont 7. Colorado 8. Alaska 9. North Dakota 10. Kansas

Bottom 10 States Overall 1. West Virginia 2. Kentucky 3. Arkansas 4. Ohio 5. Nevada 6. Alabama 7. Indiana 8. Mississippi 9. Tennessee 10. Louisiana

Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index City and State Reports

via Healthways, Gallup: Tennesseans’ well-being lags, boosted by Nashville – Nashville Business Journal:.

Note the rankings below for Kingsport.  The number of cities studied in 185.  Kingsport came in dead last in “Life Evaluation” and “Physical Health”.  Kingsport’s overall score is 179 out of 185.  Click on the link below for more information on the Tennessee study.

2009 City, State & Congressional District Well-Being Report for Tennessee

I am sure the cities will fight the annexation bills proposed by Rep. Cobb and Sen. Watson.  The bills introduced will make it harder for cities to capture citizens.

State Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, and state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, have both filed bills in the general assembly that would curb the amount of power cities currently have to annex.

Rep. Cobb said Wednesday the bill has three essential elements. It would require a referendum for anyone wishing to be annexed, it would create an option of going to a jury trial, if a lawsuit is filed, and it would place the burden of proof for why the annexation is necessary on municipalities.

Read more via Chattanooga Times Free Press | Legislature could enter fray over annexation.

HOUSE BILL 2429 Senate Bill 2402

Volkswagen’s Chattanooga operations have received more than 65,000 applications for its local jobs, including 35,000 for production slots.

“We are overwhelmed by the response and we are very satisfied with the result. It gives us the confidence that we will be able to hire all the capable and flexible people we need to build our cars safely and with the highest quality,” said Hans-Herbert Jagla, executive vice president of human resources for VW’s Chattanooga operations.

Read more via Chattanooga Times Free Press | Chattanooga: 65,000 applications filed for VW jobs.

Sullivan County, Tennessee again is left out of the picture for job creation.  Does Sullivan County have any elected officials that will step up to the plate and get something done about good paying jobs for the area?  Maybe the local republican elected officials lack the clout with the state government?

Contact your elected officials and express your concern.

• Kingsport BMA Members
• Sullivan County Mayor and County Commissioners
• Tennessee Legislators
• U.S. Congress

NASHVILLE — After two hours of testimony by proponents and opponents, the State Building Commission on Tuesday approved the $40 million purchase of 3,836 acres of farmland in southwestern Haywood County for the West Tennessee industrial "megasite."

State and local officials hope to use the site between Interstate 40 and U.S. 70 about 40 miles northeast of Memphis as a red carpet for a large, job-creating industrial or business development similar to those under way at Tennessee’s two other TVA-certified megasites: the Volkswagen automobile plant in Chattanooga and the Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. plant in Clarksville.

Read more via State panel approves purchase of land for Haywood megasite : Mid-South : Memphis Commercial Appeal.

State and local officials have been working hard to finish the West Tennessee megasite.

It appears the republican controlled Sullivan County in East Tennessee is not getting the attention it should have from the state.  Click on the link below for the entire article.

The Haywood County site is the only remaining unoccupied megasite in the state, and officials are working to bring the site up to “shovel ready” standards that major corporate investors expect. Volkswagen Group of America announced its decision in July 2008 to locate a $1 billion auto manufacturing facility on the Enterprise South megasite in Chattanooga. Hemlock Semiconductor announced in Dec. 2008 it would locate a $1.2 billion polycrystalline silicon manufacturing plant at the Commerce Park megasite in Clarksville.

Read more via Kisber to Building Commission: Hold Up on Megasite | Humphrey on the Hill | knoxnews.com.

Jobs to be added in Chattanooga

The Chattanooga area’s position in the clean energy sector received a gust of confidence Friday with a German company’s purchase and expansion plan for a wind turbine tower manufacturing plant, officials said.

SIAG Schaaf Industrie AG has bought Aerisyn LLC’s plantlocated off Riverfront Parkway with plans to add 120 jobs and invest $3 million.

SIAG officials expect the Aerisyn plant to reach full production by mid-2011 and employ 240 people.

Read more via Chattanooga Times Free Press | German firm buys Aerisyn operation.

Below is a series of ranking tables that compares the top 20 Tennessee counties that had the largest retail sales in 2008.  The top 20 counties listed below had retail sales that were $71,443,928,487 out of a total $90,007,566,528 for all 95 counties.  The entire data set can be viewed for all counties at this link:  2008 Retail Sales

Sullivan County is highlighted because of its declining population, low median wages, and young adults leaving Sullivan County.  The major cities in Sullivan County are Kingsport and Bristol. Sullivan County has one of the largest private employers in the state (Eastman Chemical) and as well as the Bristol Nascar race.

The tables below will  show that there are many counties that are doing much better than Sullivan County without having an Eastman Chemical or the Bristol races.

The problems as I see it have been ongoing for several decades. As an elected leader or involved in economic development, is this something that you are proud of?  This blog will continue to point out the problems and if elected leaders fail to respond to the problems….at least the world will know about Sullivan County.  The bottom line is that the Northeast Tennessee needs good paying jobs!!

Sullivan County has a history of being controlled by Republicans.  It just might be that this may be the problem.  Maybe we need Democratic leadership to get something done.

Also in Table 1 are links for the county websites.  Some county web pages are well done and project a good image for the county and some are rather plain and are lacking in information such as access to public documents (minutes, etc.).  You can be the judge as to which counties have the best website by clicking on the links below in Table 1.

The top 20 counties below in Table 3 had retail sales that were  $71,443,928,487 out of $90,007,566,528 for all 95 counties.  The entire data set can be viewed for all counties at this link:  2008 Retail Sales

Nine counties did better than Sullivan County in the Retail Sales per Person column and four of them were in East Tennessee.

Tables 5 and 6 below show the Estimated Current Property Values for the counties and shows how strong the property taxes are for a county.  The property values below include industrial and commercial, residential, farms, etc.

The property vales used in table 5 were taken from the 2008 Tax Aggregate Report of Tennessee.  The Estimated Current Property Value column in Table 5 includes the county and municipalities property values and are added together for one property value for the county in Table 5.

Williamson and Sevier Counties are clearly the big winners in Table 6. Washington County which does not have an Eastman Chemical but has more Property Value per Person than Sullivan County and is a smaller county in square miles.

In the above Tables 3 and 4, Bradley County rank was 17 for both retail sales and retail sales per person.  In Table 6, Bradley County has a rank of 5 and would indicate a strong manufacturing base.  Also Bradley County will be getting the $1 billion Wacker Chemie AG plant which will employ 500 – 600 people.

Hemlock Semiconductor Corp.,  plans to build a $1.2 billion facility near Clarksville (Montgomery County). That project is expected to open in 2012 and create 800 jobs.

Volkswagen plans to employ about 2,000 workers and invest about $1 billion in Chattanooga.

Eastman Chemical and the Bristol Nascar Races have been good for Sullivan County, but in my opinion the county, Kingsport, and Bristol have relied on it for far too long and have become complacent when it comes to economic development.

Sullivan County in Table 7 has the worst rank of the top 2 retail sales counties for population growth.  Over an eight year period from years 2000 to 2008, Sullivan County only gained 850 in population.

Sullivan County death rate is higher than the birth rate and the county gained only 850 in population in the time span of 2000 to 2008.  The gain has come from new arrivals to the area.

Sullivan County is considered one of the larger populated counties in Tennessee.  In 1994, Sullivan County was the fifth most populated county.  Because of the growth in other counties and the declining population in Sullivan County, the rank of Sullivan County is estimated to be 11 in year 2030

All data used in the above tables are from the links highlighted above in blue.

King College, a denominational college located in Bristol, Tennessee, has been in discussions with Kingsport, Bristol, and Sullivan County officials to build a medical school in Kingsport and Bristol.

The cost for the medical school would be about $150 million.  King is looking for $50 million to come from the cities of Kingsport ($40 million) and Bristol ($10 million), $50 million from the State of Tennessee, and the remaining $50 million from private donations.

At the July 7, 2009, Kingsport, Tennessee Board of Mayor and Alderman, a resolution was passed on first reading to endorse the King College Medical School Initiative, and pledged its commitment to work with Bristol, Sullivan County, and King College to advance the project.

While it does sound like a good project for the area, there will be a major impact on the taxpayers if this is funded via a property tax increase.

Mayor Dennis Phillips has stated that if Kingsport were to fund $40 million for the project, property taxes would have to be raised 25 cents.

Below are tax rates that have been extracted from the Tennessee Property Tax Rates that show the top 20 cities that have the highest tax rates in Tennessee from 406 different tax rates for the different cities and counties.

I have added 25 cents to the tax rates for the two Kingsport line items (Kingsport-Sullivan and Kingsport-Hawkins) in the table below.  Kingsport, with the 25 cents added, would have a rank of 10 and 12 as having the most expensive tax rates in the state.  Bristol has a rank of 14 and I have no knowledge if they would increase property taxes.

Top 20 Cities with the most expensive property tax rates

* The current city and county combined tax rate for Kingsport-Sullivan County is $4.86 and Kingsport-Hawkins County is $4.86.  Twenty-five cents has been added to each of the Kingsport tax rates in the above table.

The household median income for Kingsport is $34,391 and the Kingsport majority of Kingsport property owners would pay over 5.5 percent of household income ($150k home) for property taxes if  the 25 cents is added to the Kingsport tax rate.  The Kingsport rank is 6 and 7 and Bristol comes in at a rank of 8 in the table below for the largest percent of household income needed to pay property taxes.

A taxpayer funded medical school would reduce the already low Kingsport household income and would reduce the standard of living for the majority of Kingsport citizens so the city could reap the benefits of increased revenue to spend on other pet projects.

Top 20 Cities that take the highest percentage of income for property taxes

* The current city and county combined tax rate for Kingsport-Sullivan County is $4.86 and Kingsport-Hawkins County is $4.86.  Twenty-five cents has been added to each of the Kingsport tax rates in the above table.

The above cities that have a college appear not to have increased the standard of living and have a low household median income.

Below is the household income distribution for Kingsport and the household median income for Kingsport is $34,391.  In the graph below there are 2,636 people who earn less than $10,000  classifying them as living in poverty.

I challenge the elected officials to venture outside of their social and political groups and try to understand the plight of the majority of wage earners in the Kingsport area.  The medical school would bring jobs, but some of these jobs will be imported jobs and the common folks would not have the background or training for these jobs.  Ask what you can do to raise the standard of living (higher income) for Kingsport citizens without imposing a property tax burden.

I feel that the taxpayers should not be taking the risk of funding a medical school when there already is a state funded one in Johnson City.  The need for doctors in this area is questionable since the population is declining in Sullivan County.  If they area has trouble attracting doctors or keeping doctors, then take a hard look at the reason.

Quality of Life issues are important, but a good Standard of Living for local folks just might make the area prosper by increased spending by the majority of citizens.

The bottom line is that the area needs good paying jobs without the additional burden on the taxpayers.

I need to point out that no funding has been voted on so far, but projects such as this grows legs very fast and then its then to late to react.  The intent of this post is to make you aware of the issues so you can make your views know.  Update:  Many elected officials have expressed their support of this project including Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey who may make it a part of his campaign for governor.  Again, I must point out that I am not against the project but am very concerned about it being funded by taxpayers.

Please contact your elected officials and tell them NO to a taxpayer funded denominational medical school.  Click on the email links below and add your comments in your own email program.

The May, 2009 unemployment rate for the City of Kingsport was 12.6 percent.  Retail sales growth is not keeping up with the inflation rate and Kingsport has a declining population. The Kingsport area, in a recent report by Kiplinger, has the highest cost of living, the lowest household income, and the worst job growth in Tennessee. See the link Kingsport Facts

Kingsport, as I have said many times needs to get industry to locate here that offer good paying jobs.  More retail jobs aren’t needed.  Get the good paying jobs first and then retail jobs will open up.

After giving it much thought, I have come to the collusion that the City of Kingsport, Chamber of Commerce, Networks, and Sullivan County are not capable of getting the type of jobs that the area needs.  I’m sorry that I have to be blunt, but it is the truth and in my view these organizations are nothing more than a social/political club that cater to special interest groups.  Look at the facts!  Sure, there have been some gains, but these have been mostly in the retail/food areas.

We need the involvement of the State of Tennessee to help get jobs here.  The State was able to help Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Clarksville get new manufacturing firms to locate in those cities and North Carolina was able to woo Google and Apple Computer to locate to North Carolina.  North Carolina has changed some of its laws to make it easier for firms to locate to North Carolina.  Because of the changes made at the state level in North Carolina, they will get an Apple Computer $1billion datacenter that will be built not far from the Google datacenter in Lenoir, NC.  North Carolina also gave incentives to get these firms to locate to North Carolina.

Kingsport has relied too long on Eastman and it is time to get other firms here.  Get rid of the mindset that economic growth is retail and get new people in those organizations that can go after manufacturing and technology firms.  The economic development direction that the Kingsport area has been using is quite simple not working.  See the link, Best and Worst Cities in Tennessee

The Higher Education Center is good, but I get the impression that the city thinks that firms will come to the city in droves because we have a bunch of smart cookies here.  Upper Mississippi, I am sure did not wait to build a higher education center to attract car makers or did Lenoir, NC wait to have the type of employees that Google wanted trained before going after the Google business.

The time to act is now!  The population of Kingsport has declined.  Having more educated people trained at the Higher Education Center and the lack of jobs that would be attractive to them will insure that the declining population will get worse as they look elsewhere for employment.

Ask your state, county,and city elected officials what have they done to help spur economic growth for the area.  Ask them for specific results and then you can decide if they are helping the area with good paying job growth.