Urban vs. Rural: Looking at the Gaps

It's a conflict that has long simmered in Kentucky...city vs. country, urban vs. rural, haves vs. have nots or some other variation on the theme. A study released by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky offers some statistical analysis to support the existence of the disparity between the two and makes some recommendations that are sure to stoke the heat in the argument.

University of Louisville economist Dr. Paul Coomes wrote in the 2005 Kentucky Annual Economic Report that when it comes to distributing public resources, such as tax money for transportation infrastructure and even education, the state is too evenhanded. Urban areas should be getting more because they not only contribute a greater proportion of the tax base, those areas are the only real hope to pull all of Kentucky out of the economic backwater.

"Kentucky's fiscal policies clearly disadvantage the economic competitiveness of its largest cities," Coomes wrote in the article, "Kentucky is missing lucrative office economy growth."