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

As Tennessee lawmakers question whether photo enforcement companies should be regulated, a pending court case could decide the question.

As members of the Tennessee General Assembly consider whether to impose new regulations on photo enforcement vendors in the state, a pending court challenge seeks the enforcement of existing regulatory statutes against the firms. The state House Transportation Committee yesterday held a hearing that examined how Lasercraft, a company based in Bridlington, England, operates red light cameras on behalf of the city of Knoxville. State Representative Ben West, Jr. (D-Hermitage) questioned why this company is not regulated by the state

Read more via Tennessee: Camera Company Challenged on PI License Issue.

Below is from The Show blog.  Be sure to tune in to every Monday and Thursday from 6-8pm for the radio talk show.  See The Show blog for more details.

Are we going to have anyone showing up? We need bodies there arguing our case against these things.  Now is the time to do it.

KINGSPORT — The Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen will again discuss the controversial red light camera system during a work session Monday afternoon, with some city leaders saying they hope to put the issue to rest once and for all.

Kingsport has no plans to do away with the cameras, especially since the city went out to bid on the system — Redflex may get its contract renewed, or a new company could come in

Much of the recent discussion has not dealt with whether or not Kingsport should keep the cameras — city leaders agree on Kingsport keeping them — rather the talk has been about the $100 fine and whether Kingsport could lower the amount for court costs.

City Attorney Mike Billingsley has told the BMA reducing the court costs for just the red light camera fines would be unconstitutional. In addition, Kingsport is under contract with Redflex through the end of the year, which includes where the fine money goes.

“I don’t know how much leeway we have to change (the fine),” Mallicote said. “My preference would be to go to a somewhat reduced fine, but I can’t see any way of doing that, if we assess court costs. I don’t see any way to get there.”

Full story

From a article from Nov 7th shows Knoxville does not impose a court cost. So my question how can this non-uniformity in law and fines be constitutional?

“To be honest, once we heard (City Attorney Mike) Billingsley’s opinion on the applicability of court costs in all cases, I think that took the issue off the table for me,” Mallicote said, referring to Knoxville’s lower ticket price. “The reason Knoxville’s is less is they don’t assess court costs. Mike said he thinks that’s unconstitutional, so that’s the end of the story.”

Story

KNOXVILLE — Panasonic Electric Devices Corp. of America announced today it will close its Aluminum Foil Plant in Forks of the River Industrial Park by the end of March, laying off 140 workers and essentially ending its manufacturing operations in Knox County after 27 years.

Read more via Panasonic closing Knox plant, laying off 140 » Knoxville News Sentinel.

Johnson City manufacturer Alemite will lay off 119 workers beginning in November, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Monday.

Alemite makes grease guns and lubricant handling systems.

Read more via Johnson City company cutting 119 jobs » Knoxville News Sentinel.

WASHINGTON — Eastman Chemical Co. spent $270,000 lobbying the federal government in the second quarter on clean energy, antitrust and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

Read more via Eastman Chemical spent $270K on lobbying in 2Q » Knoxville News Sentinel.

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.

Here are the 361 U.S. metropolitan areas that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance considered for its list of Best Cities: It’s All About Jobs. See where your city ranks by sorting our criteria. The Cost of Living Index is based on 100 being the national average. To learn more about the creative class, click here. Salary Growth is the increase in household income from 2004 to 2008. Employment Growth is the growth in jobs on a per capita basis from 2000 to 2007. (Source: Kevin Stolarick of the Martin Prosperity Institute)

Click on the following link to see all 361 U.S. metropolitan areas .  Full City Rankings 2009

Best and Worst Cities in Tennessee

Below is data for Tennessee metropolitan areas that has been extracted from the list of 361 cities.

The data for a given column below that is highlighted in Green is the best for the Tennessee metropolitan areas mentioned below.  If the data is in Red, then that metropolitan area has the lowest or worst data for the metropolitan areas below.

The rank is stated below within parenthesis ( ) and shows the rank as compared for all 361 U.S. metropolitan areas.  A rank of 1 would be the best and a rank of 361 would be the worst

In the table below, we can see that the Kingsport area has the highest cost of living, the lowest household income, and the worst job growth.

How about some action from North East Tennessee officials to get industry to locate to the Sullivan County area?

CHATTANOOGA – After landing Volkswagen’s first major supplier in Hamilton County, officials said it and other firms will defray some of the $100 million cost of preparing Enterprise South industrial park.

Gestamp Corp., which on Thursday unveiled plans to build a $90 million plant and employ at least 230 people within three years at the Chattanooga site, is paying for the land, unlike Volkswagen.

Read more via Hamilton to cover some costs of $90M Gestamp plant : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel.