info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Osawatomie establishes Healthy Rental Homes program

info2021-12-16T08:15:01-06:00December 16th, 2021|

The Osawatomie community now has a licensing and regulation program to cover residential rental dwellings within the city. The City Council on Thursday, Dec. 9, approved an ordinance establishing the Healthy Rental Homes program. A Committee of Landlords and city staff collaborated on the initiative that has been more than a year in the making. City officials and landlord committee members agreed a licensing and external inspection program was a way the city can safeguard its interests in protecting the “life, safety, general welfare and health,” as well as help landlords protect residential properties and their appraised values. Source: Local News [...]

More Kellogg construction on the horizon? Here’s where state plans to spend $166M on it

info2021-12-16T08:15:09-06:00December 16th, 2021|

Gov. Laura Kelly’s new $750 million highway improvement plan calls for $166 million in upgrades to Kellogg freeway in east Wichita. Kelly announced the highway modernization and expansion Wednesday, less than a month after Kellogg construction ceased for the first time in 30 years. The next phase of Kellogg construction will address a bottleneck from the K-96 interchange to 159th Street east. At a press conference in Topeka, Kelly singled out the Kellogg improvements in her comments. “This is a pressing issue because by addressing the congestion at the north junction interchange, a significant bottleneck has been shifted to the new [...]

Parsons planning commission talks tiny homes

info2021-12-16T08:15:28-06:00December 16th, 2021|

Parsons is looking at integrating regulations relating to tiny homes in the city. Members of the Parsons Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals discussed tiny homes during their Tuesday meeting. The city does not have formal regulations on tiny homes. “Right now, I don’t have like a district for tiny homes,” said Laura Moore, community development director. “Right now, you can put one tiny home on a normal, traditional city lot.” “That’s an awful big lot for a tiny home,” she added. Verdunity Inc., based in Dallas, recently answered a question from Moore about the smaller structures. Moore asked Verdunity, [...]

Derby’s housing concerns similar to others

info2021-12-16T00:19:42-06:00December 16th, 2021|

Putting together a housing outlook for Kansas is a bit like placing jigsaw puzzle pieces together – and is sometimes the case, a few pieces are missing to make a successful picture. That was one of the points from a presentation by the Topeka-based Kansas Housing Resources Corporation’s statewide housing needs assessment study on Dec. 9 at the Derby Public Library. About 35 people attended the hour-long event, including several city officials. An aging housing stock, especially in rural areas, and affordable housing, especially for the senior market, were some of those needs cited by the study. Source: The Miami County [...]

Former police chief, current city Chief of Staff Cochran to become Topeka’s interim city manager

info2021-12-15T07:13:26-06:00December 15th, 2021|

A divided mayor and city council on Tuesday evening elected former police chief and current city Chief of Staff Bill Cochran to become Topeka's interim city manager. ... The measure approved Tuesday calls for Cochran to become interim city manager effective at 5:01 p.m. Dec. 31. He will oversee Topeka's city government as the mayor and council conduct a search for a permanent city manager. Source: CJonline

Reno County formally bans industrial wind in zoned areas

info2021-12-15T07:11:24-06:00December 15th, 2021|

Reno County Commission voted unanimously to ban commercial wind development in all zoned areas of the county. A plan to create a new zoning overlay district that would regulate wind for the remaining unzoned areas of the county, however, was tabled until Jan. 11. A countywide moratorium on commercial wind development remains in place through mid-March. Tuesday’s vote prohibiting wind energy conversion systems or WECS in certain parts of the county came more than three years after a pair of residents first appeared before the Reno County Commission seeking a moratorium on wind development. That after NextEra Energy began buying up [...]

Kansas going big on broadband

info2021-12-15T07:10:14-06:00December 15th, 2021|

With an influx of federal funding for broadband development, the governor’s office is championing a goal to have Kansas among the leaders in highspeed internet access by the end of the decade. “We’re being bold,” said Lt. Gov. and Commerce Secretary David Toland. “We’re being ambitious. We’re being aggressive. Because we understand how high the stakes are. We are in a race as a state against other states, and we want to win that race so that we can win new residents, we can win new businesses and we can retain the ones that we have.” Source: Hutch News

Salina moves step closer to possible esports arena

info2021-12-15T07:09:13-06:00December 15th, 2021|

After hearing in October about an opportunity to transform an older building into something new, the Salina City Commission voted to support a potential esports arena in the city. The commission voted 5-0 in favor of an expression of support to redevelop Memorial Hall into an arena and multipurpose facility... Source: Salina Journal

Municipal Bond Trends for December 14, 2021

info2021-12-15T07:07:17-06:00December 15th, 2021|

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

The Federal Reserve is expected to take a very big step toward its first rate hike

info2021-12-15T02:55:13-06:00December 15th, 2021|

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a dramatic policy shift Wednesday that will clear the way for a first interest rate hike next year. Markets are anticipating the Fed will speed up the wind-down of its bond buying program, changing the end date to March from June. That would free the central bank to start raising interest rates from zero, and Fed officials are expected to release a new forecast showing two to three interest rate hikes in 2022 and another three to four in 2023. Previously, there had been no consensus for a rate hike in 2022, though half [...]

About info