Scott County

The ongoing drama with the economy, softening real estate markets, and banks tightening their requirements on loans continue to pinch the credit lines of Lexington area home builders.  As a result, the amount of new Lexington Homes for sale are on the decline.  This has results in both fewer new Lexington home permits being issued, and a new issue is starting to arise:  half finished homes are becoming more commonplace within the community.  What is happening is as builders get their credit lines called, they simply end up running out of money and can't afford to continue to work on homes - which then ends up costing them their permit (Home permits become void after 180 days of inactivity on the job site).

Here's a few snapshots of the metropolitan…

The Georgetown KY city government is considering up to a 0.5% increase in the payroll tax to help address budgetary shortfalls.  It is estimated that for each increase of tax of 0.1%, that there would be generated approximately $1 million additional in tax revenue.  [So, for a 0.5% increase, approximately $5 million would be expected to be generated additionally for the Georgetown Kentucky government.]

The current financial picture for Georgetown KY is expected revenue of approximately $20.6 million, but it has projected costs of $22.6 million - a shortfall of $2 million.  So, they need to raise additional money (or cut expenses), to address the problem.

The city council members have been discussing an increase in payroll taxes of 0.1% - 0.2%, but…

The Scott County Georgetown Kentucky airport is getting a big makeover in preparation for the 2010 FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games. They are getting ready to begin on a $4 million expansion project and is expected to be completed by the time the 2010 WEG is here.

Some of the expansion projects include a new terminal building, as well as a runway ramp addition.

The contractor hasn't been decided at this point in time. Bidding is set to let for this month March 2008, and the actual construction is set to start some time in the middle of the year 2008. There is no expectation that the construction will interfere with any of the Georgetown KY airport's regularly scheduled flights or operations.

The World Equestrian Games in 2010 is expected to bring…

The Georgetown KY Toyota Plant recently announced that they were going to be producing a new model called the Toyota Venza.  This model replaces the Solara in the production line.  This change that could add as many as 75 jobs to the facility - and the Toyota Plant will begin production of the new model in November 2008.

Some highlights of the new Toyota Venza include:

2.7 liter 4 cylinder or 3.5 liter V-6

6 speed sequential shift automatic transmissions

Seating Capacity will be 5

Toyota has invested $350 million to retool the plant to accommodate the new production of the Venza at the Georgetown KY facility.  The V-6 will be the first models to be built, with the 4 cylinder to be offered later next year.  The car is based on the Camry base…

Lexington Kentucky Foreclosures are being filed at a record high of 212 new foreclosures this past quarter.  This is the highest amount in the past 3 years.

Nearly all of the cases were in Fayette County (204 were for Lexington).  The next closest was Scott County at 4 filings.

These numbers are approximately 1 foreclosure filing for every 919 households in the 6 county area:

Bourbon County

Clark County

Fayette County

Jessamine County

Scott County

Woodford County

These recent filings put Lexington Kentucky in the dubious honor of being in the top 100 foreclosure rankings for the United State's largest metropolitan areas.  This is a point of concern for many persons, as Lexington doesn't have sufficient population to warrant such tainted…