Business and the Economy

Increasingly, Kentucky’s farmers can’t find the help they need.  Agriculture experts blame the slow economy and a nationwide crackdown on undocumented workers. However, the debate over illegal immigration has not been a campaign issue in the Commonwealth.

Kentucky’s Public Service Commission projects natural gas prices this winter will be the lowest in a decade.   On average, customers can expect to pay about 12-percent less this November, as compared to a year ago.  Over the last four years, commission spokesman Andrew Melnykovych says natural gas prices have dropped 43 percent.  Melnykovych says the devastating storm in New England will not likely impact natural gas rates.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority board approved tax incentives for companies, including Integrated Security Solutions and YH America, that are considering new investments in the state at its monthly meeting last week. The approval of tax incentives outlines the state's commitment to a project should it occur in Kentucky.

Kentucky’s agriculture industry is faring better than early predictions.  The agriculture industry, which includes crops, cattle, and horses, last year earned over five billion dollars.  That figure is beyond Kentucky’s reach this year, but, University of Kentucky Agriculture Economist Will Snell says many farmers should still do okay.

Tax revenues coming into Lexington city hall seem to indicate the local economy is ‘relatively stable.’  The local unemployment rate in the six percent range, is about one percent lower than a year ago.  City Revenue Director Bill Omara says a number of taxing categories are down slightly, but service-related fees are up.  “Services category was over budget.  That’s a large category that takes into detention fees, e-m-s fees, parks fees.  Those types of fees that are general fund related,” said Omara.

Across the state, employers of all types — manufacturers, banks, governments and even hospitals, part of the typically strong health-care industry — have laid off employees in recent years. Kentucky's unemployment rate has fallen in recent months, but it continues to trail the national measure. The state's jobless rate might be primed to rise again as those who had given up on finding jobs try again. Once they begin searching for a job again, they'll be counted as part of the rate, which is based only on active job seekers. As the hard times persist for many, they have looked to the government for answers in what has become a constant topic in election stump speeches.

Creating art and selling it are two very different things.  In marketing their creations, the executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council, Lori Meadows says many artists struggle with setting a fair, but competitive price.  “Really looking at pricing, what kind of marketing that you can do as an artist that will promote the image that you want to put forward,” said Meadows.  To further their businesses, Meadows says artists must work well with buyers and galleries.

Hoping to make the Kentucky Horse Park into a major convention center, officials are asking Lexington city leaders for help.   Two years ago this week, Lexington was playing host to the World Equestrian Games. Horse Park Director John Nicholson says the international event pumped more than 200 million dollars into the region’s economy.  The longtime director says high gasoline prices, 85-million dollars in improvements and the state’s fiscal crisis then put a financial strain on the horse park.  Now, Nicholson says state officials want the park to become self sufficient.  Still, he told council members he’s not looking for a handout.

The latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau places Kentucky in two unfortunate categories. The commonwealth is among states with the lowest median household income (below $45,000, Kentucky's is around $41,000) and it is among the states with the highest income inequality. In the first category, Kentucky fits in with most of the states to the south. Only Georgia has a median income above $45,000, making it the outlier in the south, along with Texas.

FRANKFORT Ky. (Sept. 25, 2012) – Thunder Tool & Manufacturing Ltd. has purchased a 30,000-square-foot facility in Richmond. The company plans to create 45 new, full-time jobs and invest $2.2 million in the project. “Thunder Tool is a tremendous success story out of Canada, and we’re thrilled it chose Kentucky as the place to begin its growth in the United States,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement.

An annual report that describes the state’s financial outlook shows that Kentucky has once again gone deeper into debt. The report, when compared with past years, shows the state added more than $110 million in debt during the last fiscal year. Tea Party activist David Adams says that number shows that claims by Governor Steve Beshear that he’s balanced the budget 10 times are false.

Gross receipts for Keeneland’s eleven day yearling sales were down slightly from a year ago.  But, the average price and median figure were up.  Just over 25 hundred horses were auctioned off during the eleven day sale,  A little more than 29 hundred horses were sold last year.  The cumulative average price this year increased 14 percent while the median jumped up 50 percent.

An Indian national faces a federal computer-hacking charge in connection with his departure from Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky in late August. Ibrahimshah Shahulhameed, who worked at the Georgetown plant under a contract with a Wisconsin staffing firm, was named Tuesday in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington. Shahulhameed was being held in the Fayette County Detention Center but was released Wednesday, an FBI spokeswoman said. He was released without bond, but must wear an electronic monitoring device.

The Thoroughbred Times, a Lexington-based biweekly magazine reporting on all facets of racing and breeding, shut down Friday, its editor Mark Simon said Saturday. Thoroughbred Times Inc. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Friday was the last day of operations, Simon said. The Thoroughbred Times had 27 full-time employees, said Simon.