The ® LaneKENTUCKY’S BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE Report FOR 27 YEARS APRIL 2012 $4.50 $11.3 BILLION lanereport.com On The Road to Growth Kentucky’s $11.3 billion travel and tourism LANE ONE-ON-ONE: industry has a ‘unique’ plan to meet pent up demand. MARY PAT REGAN Page 20 President, AT&T Kentucky April_CoverJM.indd 1 4/6/12 2:44 PM April_CoverJM.indd 2 4/6/12 2:44 PM THE LANE REPORT • LANEREPORT.COM APRIL 2012 1 April Lane 1-18.indd 1 4/9/12 9:47 AM APRIL LThe ane Report 2012 Kentucky’s Business News Source For 27 Years Volume 27 Number 4 20 COVER STORY ON THE ROAD TO GROWTH Kentucky’s $11 billion travel and tourism industry has a ‘unique’ plan to meet pent up demand 24 AVOIDING FUTURE SHOCK With utilities’ help, Kentucky business and industry invest in energy efficiency to keep costs competitive 26 AN INVESTMENT WITH A YIELD For those spending more than $60,000 annually on power, efficiency upgrades look like a wise strategy 28 COST COMPETITION FOR CARE PROVIDERS Kentucky firm markets software tool allowing price comparisons for healthcare bargain hunters 30 ‘AN EXTENDED BOTTOM’ Kentucky construction contractors compete hard for jobs; manufacturing, multi-family housing show improvement 32 AMERICA’S BEST-RUN BANK? Steady growth and a conservative approach lead Republic Bancorp to the top of a national listing Departments 4 Perspective 35 The Lane List 6 Fast Lane 36 Spotlight on the Arts 12 Interstate Lane 38 Exploring Kentucky $ 13 Kentucky Intelligencer 40 Prep Line 11.3 14 On the Boards 42 Passing Lane 15 Corporate Moves 44 Kentucky People BNILLIO 16 Lane One-on-One: Mary Pat Regan Kentucky President, AT&T cover art.indd 1 4/6/12 2:58 PM On the Cover lanereport.com Kentucky’s travel and tourism industry Kentucky Business News Online had an estimated economic impact of Read current and archived copies of The Lane Report, $11.3 billion in 2010., and 2011 is believed Market Review, BG – A way of life, Next – Your Future After to have been better. A mild winter High School in Kentucky, Health Kentucky, Prep Magazine, resulted in what state officials say were the special reports, white papers and community profiles. best three-month period in history. (Lane Report photo illustration) Faster Lane Email news bulletin Three or more times a week, the editors of The Lane Report publish the Faster Lane email bulletin of fast breaking and important business and economic news from across Kentucky. Visit lanereport.com to sign-up for this free, must-have, at-your-fingertips news service. April Lane 1-18.indd 2 4/9/12 9:47 AM THE LANE REPORT • LANEREPORT.COM APRIL 2012 3 April Lane 1-18.indd 3 4/9/12 9:47 AM The PERSPECTIVE Lane Report ® Kentucky’s Business News Source for 27 Years EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Green Elected officials often yield to the ASSOCIATE EDITOR FACING REALITY Karen Baird demands of union contracts that the States must address issue of government cannot afford. One impor- CREATIVE DIRECTOR tant reason is that union officials funnel Jessica Merriman collective bargaining reform a large portion of compulsory union CORRESPONDENTS dues and fees (often collected for them Amanda Arnold; Rena Baer; BY PAT FREIBERT by the government) into efforts to influ- Katherine Tandy Brown; Patrice Bucciarelli; Shannon Leonard Clinton; ence elections. Thus, many elected offi- Anne Charles Doolin; Debra Gibson; cials fear angering unions even in the Susan Gosselin; Robert Hadley; HE circus in Wisconsin’s state Cap- face of critical financial shortfalls. This Anne Sabatino Hardy; Feoshia Henderson; itol last summer, with its profane helps explain why states with the heavi- Kara Keeton; Meredith Lane; Abby Laub; and obscene signs and threatening est tax burdens and worst long-term Nancy Miller; Greg Paeth; Eddie Sheridan; Tbehavior from unionized public debts, often due to bloated public Mariam Williams; Gary Wollenhaupt employees, begs an analysis by hard- employee pension funds and benefits, SYNDICATED COLUMNS working citizens and overtaxed voters. are those with the most unionized work- Creators Syndicate Thousands of unionized government forces. In many cases, it truly is the “tail DESIGN workers (some bused in from Chicago wagging the dog,” with union negotia- Stone Advisory and Nevada) descended on Wisconsin’s tors basically setting budgets and fiscal PRINTING, OUTPUT & PRE-PRESS SERVICES Capitol to protest proposed collective policies. When there are insufficient Publishers Printing Co. bargaining reforms designed to limit funds to meet union demands, unions ■ government costs. push for tax increases. In the face of a two-year state deficit Too often, the union leaders act as PUBLISHER Ed Lane of $3.6 billion, the governor proposed the dominant partner in negotiations that state employees begin to pay while the elected officials act as hired ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Dick Kelly something into their own pension and help. A number of mayors and governors Donna Hodsdon health insurance plans just as most of around the country are working hard to their private-sector neighbors do. The solve the problems of union contracts CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Steve Rohlfing, CPA reforms were approved by lawmakers containing unaffordable and costly sala- and signed into law by the governor. ries and benefits, from Republican Gov. COMPTROLLER Big Labor then mounted a bare- Chris Christy of New Jersey to Demo- Alma Kajtazovic knuckle attack on the governor in the cratic Gov. Jerry Brown of California. CIRCULATION form of a recall election. In New Jersey, Christy, a Republican, P&B Services The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and state Senate President Stephen Swee- WEB MARKETING & PUBLISHING summed up the results of the enacted ney, a liberal Democrat, have offered use- WebMedley reforms this way: “The governor did bal- ful examples for states. These two leaders IT SERVICES ance the budget … reduce the struc- pushed through the legislature require- NetGain Technologies tural deficit significantly … put a lid on ments for public workers to begin con- property tax increases; he did give tributing to their health insurance and Lane Communications Group schools and municipalities more con- increased their contributions to their is a member of trol over their budgets.” The analysis pensions. Senate President Sweeney is sounds like a good report card, espe- also a leader of the state’s ironworkers. cially coming from a newspaper that He realized that New Jersey had to get a had opposed the governor’s efforts. handle on its gold-plated pay and bene- The Lane Report is published monthly by: While Kentuckians would not desire fits to state employees or the private sec- Lane Communications Group the protests and trashing of the state tor, which hires people like ironworkers, 201 East Main Street 14th Floor Capitol as occurred in Wisconsin, we would be squeezed out. Lexington, KY 40507-2003 know that reform must come. In Wis- Courage from elected officials will [email protected] consin, teachers abandoned students be essential to the task of changing the For more information and and classrooms for weeks and a group paradigm on how public-employee advertising rates contact: PHONE: 859-244-3500 of state senators fled to Illinois to union contracts are handled. Costs escape voting on the reforms and must be controlled in the budget with- The annual subscription rate is $29. thwart majority rule. out constant tax increases. Many, many (Kentucky residents add $1.74 sales tax.) Wisconsin is not unique and its cri- fine and devoted people employed by Newsstand price is $4.50. sis is not an isolated case. If public-sec- government work hard, are good at Send check or money order to: tor collective bargaining is not what they do and deserve good Circulation Manager reformed, other cities and states incomes and benefits. Their wage and THE LANE REPOrt benefit packages should compare 201 East Main Street 14th Floor strapped for money from overspend- Lexington, Kentucky 40507-2003 ing and over-promising may expect the favorably with private-sector packages, and with comparable costs to the THE LANE REPOrt corrects all significant errors that same type of scenario to show up in are brought to the editors’ attention. their city halls and state capitols. In an worker and employer. ■ economy dominated by long-term © 2012 Lane Communications Group unemployment and general decline, All editorial material is fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without prior permission. America can no longer afford to have Pat Freibert is a former Kentucky state taxing and spending decisions made by representative from Lexington. She can be reached at [email protected]. public-sector union contracts without effective opposing argument. 4 APRIL 2012 LANEREPORT.COM • THE LANE REPORT April Lane 1-18.indd 4 4/9/12 9:47 AM THE LANE REPORT • LANEREPORT.COM APRIL 2012 5 April Lane 1-18.indd 5 4/9/12 9:47 AM FAST LANE A compilation of economic news from across Kentucky ERLANGER: DHL TO HIRE 280 TO OPERATE NEW $47M SORT LEXINGTON: LEXMARK ADDS FACILITY AT CVG’S EXPANDING INTERNATIONAL HUB TO SOFTWARE BUSINESS BY BUYING THREE COMPANIES HL is investing $47 million to expand its Americas hub facility is forging at the Cincinnati/Northern EXMARK International ahead with its strategy to expand its DKentucky Airport (CVG) to meet the presence in software, investing a growing demand of international ship- Ltotal of $212 million to acquire three ping customers. software companies. A groundbreaking ceremony was , held on March 14 for the project, Brainware Inc. ISYS Search Soft- and will all be inte- which will entail building a new ware Nolij Corp. grated into , a 193,000-s.f.