info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Community strength built by a corral of bulls on Main Street in Marquette

info2021-04-08T07:29:36-05:00April 8th, 2021|

Hometown pride isn’t penned up in rural communities, but the bulls on main street sure are. Nearly 100 people packed into the Smoky Valley Distillery in Marquette on Tuesday night to participate in one of the most unusual bull sales many had seen in their lives. Ryan Barta, owner of Barta Farms LLC in Little River, asked the Marquette City Council in late March if he could hold his “Angus Comes to Town” sale downtown, to which they responded positively. “I think there’s been a lot of excitement,” Barta said. “This is something that’s not normally done; it’s normally in a [...]

House and Senate negotiators begin wrangling over Kansas K-12 budget and policies

info2021-04-08T07:09:53-05:00April 8th, 2021|

Kansas Republican legislators from the House and Senate remain largely divided on several proposed budget and policy elements of K-12 public education in the state. ... The act would take the standard per-pupil aid normally given to public schools and place it into an education savings account for students designated as “at-risk” to use for private school tuition and other education-adjacent expenses. The bill would also fully fund public education as requested in the governor’s budget for 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the measure would remove a funding formula provision giving additional budget weighting to students in districts with a high [...]

Johnson County loses ‘dark store theory’ appeal involving Bass Pro’s property tax bill

info2021-04-08T07:11:03-05:00April 8th, 2021|

Johnson County has suffered one more loss in its battle with big box retailers over property valuations. The Kansas Court of Appeals has sided with the landlords of Bass Pro Shops in Olathe, who contended the county overestimated its property value by millions of dollars in 2016 and 2017, resulting in a sudden jump in property tax the company owed. In an opinion filed Friday, April 2, the court upheld a ruling by the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals that substantially reduced the property taxes the Bass Pro landlords owed for those two years. The panel said Johnson County failed to [...]

Pit bull bans in Leawood, Overland Park receive scrutiny as more cities drop similar laws

info2021-04-08T07:11:38-05:00April 7th, 2021|

The kids were at home when animal control and police arrived at Kristi Bond’s Leawood residence. The order was direct and to the point. The family would have to remove Lucy, the Bonds’ dog especially beloved by their young daughter, from the city. Lucy’s crime: resembling a pit bull, a breed outlawed within Leawood city limits. Had Bond lived in just about any other city in the metro area, Lucy’s looks wouldn’t have been an issue. One by one, other municipalities have dropped laws that target pit bulls – a catch-all term for breeds that look a certain way – with [...]

Issuing $500 million in new bonds for KPERS: Savvy investment or kooky gamble?

info2021-04-08T07:15:47-05:00April 7th, 2021|

The Kansas Senate waded into the world of high finance Tuesday with fiery debate primarily among Republicans on a bill issuing $500 million in bonds with proceeds invested under the premise earnings would help the bottom line of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. The state in 2004 and again in 2015 approved similar maneuvers that involved a total of $1.5 billion in bonds for KPERS. ... Sen. Tom Hawk, D-Manhattan, said the bond option was a wise strategy that took advantage of KPERS’ impressive record of sustained positive return on investment. ... From another vantage point, however, Hutchinson Sen. Mark [...]

Gove County dramatically improves situation after being among hardest hit by COVID-19

info2021-04-07T07:47:46-05:00April 7th, 2021|

In November, COVID-19 hit Gove County as hard as nearly any other county in the U.S. Because of its small population, a couple dozen deaths caused the western Kansas county’s death rate to skyrocket. Fast forward to today, Gove County is leading the state in vaccinations and is far ahead of the national average. A lot can change in four months. In December, national news outlets called Gove County one of the “deadliest” in America. A handful of deaths in a rural county has a big impact, both on its COVID-19 statistics and its citizens. But now Gove County is statistically [...]

Newly considered rules could hinder Kansas wind farms

info2021-04-07T07:13:49-05:00April 7th, 2021|

Wind now cranks up more kilowatts than any other power source in the state. Yet even as towering turbines and their slow-churning blades come to increasingly define the Kansas landscape, a counter movement seems to take hold. A bill pending in the Kansas Legislature would all but outlaw the erection of more of those giant turbines by saying that companies couldn’t place them within a mile and a half of an existing building. The legislation would also bar new wind farms within three miles from any airport and one mile from the property line of anybody not participating in the development. [...]

Municipal Bond Trends for April 6, 2021

info2021-04-07T07:06:15-05:00April 7th, 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.

Wichita applying for grant to purchase electric buses

info2021-04-07T06:58:07-05:00April 6th, 2021|

The Wichita City Council has approved a grant application with the Federal Transit Administration to purchase 24 electric buses. Wichita Transit Director Mike Tann said the buses would replace 24 gasoline buses that are beyond their prescribed useful life of six years. He said the gasoline buses have operated over 700,000 miles a year, burning more than 92,000 gallons of gasoline and emitting over 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. Tann said the electric buses would have a low floor for easy access, they will reduce costs and energy consumption. Source: Country 101.3 KFDI

City of Larned receives credit on electric bill

info2021-04-07T06:58:45-05:00April 6th, 2021|

Unlike many municipalities across the state and nation, the City of Larned will receive a credit to its February energy bill. The welcomed news comes in the wake of the February polar vortex that locked itself over western Canada and the central, south central and western United States creating a record-setting energy crisis. Larned’s electric credit comes to the tune of $160,000 from Midwest Energy, the city’s electric provider. City manager Bradley Eilts said the city-owned power plant produced more electricity than the city consumed. “The net result is that instead of receiving a huge bill for energy costs during the cold [...]

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