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Municipal Management By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal
Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, Paducah, Ky., is one of the best places to live in the Bluegrass State. Not only does the city offer its existing residents a suburban lifestyle with easy access to several major Midwestern cities, but it is eager to welcome remote workers looking for a place to call home. “Paducah has a great story to share,” said Pamela Spencer, communications manager for the city of Paducah. “We are a city that wants to grow in population, and our Remote Worker Incentive Program is a great way to do it.”
Making the move: Paducah attracts residents with new incentive program
A growing trend According to Statista, only 17% of full-time employees in the U.S. worked from home prior to the coronavirus pandemic. However, once stay-at-home mandates disrupted business as usual, the number of remote workers increased to 27%. There is no sign of things going back to “normal” any time soon. Thanks to improved productivity and employee health surveys, today’s employers continue to embrace hybrid work schedules. Experts suggest that by the end of the year, one in four American workers will be remote employees. For cities that have been experiencing a population decline thanks to the departure of a major employer in recent years, this shift is an opportunity they can’t afford to miss out on. To capitalize on this growing trend and court workers looking for a community that boasts a great quality of life, low cost of living as well as plenty to see and do, the Paducah City Commission created the Remote Workers Incentive Program earlier this year. The program is designed to offer things that will financially entice new residents while helping immerse them into the city’s cultural and educational experiences. The city benefits from the increase in its tax base, which then has a ripple effect on more areas of community life, economic development and other ongoing returns. In June, business development specialist Kathryn Byers presented the Paducah City Commission with a three-tiered “Do What You Do From Paducah” program that would keep the city competitive with other similar-sized communities, offering incentive packages to recruit more remote workers. It included not only the financial benefits and other perks but also a marketing plan that targeted six major cities from which they plan to lure talent.
ABOVE LEFT: A bakery’s cookie shows its love for the city of Paducah, Ky. (Photo provided by the city of Paducah, Ky.) BELOW LEFT: Paducah is one of the best places to live in the Bluegrass State, and those who choose to live there find it a great place to raise a family. (Photo provided by the city of Paducah, Ky.)
46 THE MUNICIPAL | NOVEMBER 2021
