City jumps 26 spots in business-friendly report
McMinnville may not be the most business friendly city in Tennessee, but it?s getting there. According to a recent study, the city?s ability to attract business is increasing.
This is the second year for the study, which is conducted and released by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research in an effort to judge which cities are most business friendly when it comes to attracting new business and entrepreneurs.
The study measures and compares cities in four categories:
? Business tax burden ? This is 40 percent of the total business friendly score. An area?s local business property tax rate comprises 75 percent of the ?local business tax burden? score and the local option sales tax constitutes the remaining 25 percent.
? Economic vitality when it comes to workforce skill and value ? This is 20 percent of the score. Three factors constitute one-third of this ranking: A city?s per capita personal income, the percentage of adults who are high school graduates, and the percentage of adults who are college graduates.
? Community allure ? This counts 20 percent. Cost of living rating, the culture index score, individual tax burden and crime rate per 100,000 accounted for 20 percent each. The observed composite ACT score and graduation rate of the high school in the city each made up 10 percent of the category score.
? Strategic location ? This is 20 percent. Seven separate factors were equally weighted to determine this ranking: Culture index score, interstate accessibility, airport accessibility and the number of golf courses, hotel rooms, restaurants and banks.
According to the study, McMinnville isn?t the most business-friendly city but it did jumped up 26 spots, from No. 46 to No. 20, in the last year.
How McMinnville ranks:
When it comes to the local tax burden, the city jumped from No. 20 in 2006 to No. 5 in 2007. Community of allure jumped from No. 43 to No. 7. Economic vitality climbed slightly from No. 46 to 39. Location slipped from No. 44 to 47.
?I think this says a lot about our community and what we are trying to achieve,? said McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport. ?It shows we are heading in the right direction. We might not be the most business friendly but we are getting there.?
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, non-profit and non-partisan research institute dedicated to providing concerned citizens, the media and public leaders with expert empirical research and timely, free-market policy solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee. Drew Johnson is president.
Farragut and Spring Hill were named Most Business-Friendly City in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
For more information on the study, log onto the organization?s Web site at www.tennesseepolicy.org.