info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

County’s 5-year plan for waste management addresses plastic bags, food waste

info2019-09-15T22:15:54-05:00September 15th, 2019|

Grocery store plastic bags won’t be taxed any time soon, but the county will likely look into it in the next couple of years because of the high level of public interest. County commissioners on Thursday approved a five-year strategic plan for managing waste that goes into the landfill. Among the items in it was a feasibility study to find the best way to reduce the number of single-use plastic bags that end up in the landfill or, mistakenly, in the recycling bin. Managing the loose plastic bags generated some of the most impassioned discussion among county staff and members of [...]

Winfield to map out future

info2019-09-15T22:09:29-05:00September 15th, 2019|

Public meetings will be held in the future to gather information from Winfield residents on the city’s comprehensive plan update and a master plan for parks, trails and recreation. More details were discussed about the comprehensive plan update and the master plan during the commission work session Thursday afternoon. This process of creating the plans will involve the governing body, the city planning commission, steering committees, the public and the city park board, said David Foster of Foster Design Associates in Wichita, which is helping the city with the plans. (Read more: The Arkansas City Traveler)

Kansas Offers Plenty Of Jobs, But Not Enough People To Take Them

info2019-09-15T21:59:16-05:00September 15th, 2019|

Over the last five years, almost 15,000 workers disappeared from the Kansas workforce. During the same timeframe, the state is growing economically, with a recent monthly report showing 14,000 jobs created in the last year and unemployment at 3.3%. That’s below the national rate. Despite the good news, Kansas officials see a long-term challenge: having enough employees to fill the state’s jobs, especially in high-demand careers like nursing and accounting. The total labor force in Kansas peaked in 2009 at 1.521 million, likely driven by the economic downturn that caused people to enter the labor force who otherwise wouldn’t be working. That tapered [...]

$750,000 grant to WPD for state of the art gun crime center

info2019-09-15T21:56:54-05:00September 15th, 2019|

Wichita police are hoping a new federal grant will help curb violent crime in the city. Police say this grant has been in the works for months, and now, it is finally approved. "The gun crime intelligence centers have been in formation for the last couple of years and the cities where they've been started, there's been a significant decrease in crime," says Chief Gordon Ramsay. (Read more: KAKE - News)

Students provide ‘miracle’ for Ellis homeowner

info2019-09-15T21:47:20-05:00September 15th, 2019|

For the dozen Fort Hays State University students in Ellis on Saturday morning, it was a day of giving to the surrounding community. For Evelyn Fisher, it was much more. “In my world, this is a miracle,” she said, as she watched the students painting the exterior of her home on 10th Street. (Read more: Leavenworth Times)

Kiowa County communities come together to support 12-year-old

info2019-09-15T21:45:00-05:00September 15th, 2019|

The communities of Mullinville and Greensburg in Kiowa County came together Labor Day to support one of their own. Twelve-year-old Brogan Tweedy, of Greensburg, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia on July 31 after a routine visit to the eye doctor resulted in a visit to a specialist in Wichita the next day. That doctor ordered an MRI and the doctor who read the results informed the family that Brogan had M0 acute myeloid leukemia. Brogan, who will turn 13 on Oct. 16, has been in Wichita since that day, getting treatment for the rare form of leukemia that, according [...]

Pittsburg may soon get rentable scooters

info2019-09-15T21:42:12-05:00September 15th, 2019|

If approved by the city commission at its next meeting, Pittsburg residents and visitors will soon have access to a fleet of electric scooters that riders can easily rent using a mobile app on their phones for $1 per 15 minutes. The scooters will be owned and serviced by the company VeoRide. Deputy City Manager Jay Byers said similar mobile app operated scooter companies such as Bird and Lime might be reluctant to come to Pittsburg because they generally offer their services in larger cities. “We tend to be on the smaller side of the market,” Byers said, “and VeoRide was [...]

Osawatomie hires interim city manager

info2019-09-15T21:40:22-05:00September 15th, 2019|

A former city administrator for the city of Lansing for 16 years has been selected to serve as interim city manager until the city of Osawatomie can find outgoing manager Don Cawby’s successor. The City Council voted unanimously Thursday, Sept. 12, to hire Michael Smith as interim city manager. Smith served as city administrator of Lansing from 1999 until his retirement in 2015. Prior to that post, Smith served Lansing for two decades as the community’s police chief. Smith is the current mayor of Lansing and also is president of the Kansas Mayors Association. (Read more: The Miami County Republic)

WSJ ANALYSIS: When Negotiated Underwriters Flip Municipal Bonds, Local Governments Pay the Price

info2019-09-12T23:09:16-05:00September 12th, 2019|

When the West Contra Costa Unified School District in California needed money to repair and upgrade deteriorating classrooms, it hired [a "negotiated" underwriter] to sell $191 million of municipal bonds. As far as school officials knew, the March 2016 sale went off flawlessly, enabling the district to refinance older debt and tackle tasks such as removing asbestos and upgrading science labs. However, within a day of the initial sale, the original buyers sold, or “flipped,” $35 million of the district’s bonds for a profit of $306,000, a Wall Street Journal analysis of trading in the bonds found. Within 10 trading days, [...]

Some Kansas cities and schools still use an Underwriter as their “financial advisor”! Here’s how to find out if you do [in 3 EASY STEPS]

info2019-09-13T11:29:36-05:00September 12th, 2019|

Although it's widely considered a "best practice" to use an independent advisor (i.e., not an underwriter-broker/dealer) when issuing municipal bonds, some local governments still use an underwriter as their advisor! Key reasons to NOT use an underwriter/broker-dealer as your advisor: Underwriters sometimes don't take competitive bids, and dictate the interest rate in a "negotiated" bond sale! Underwriters have other clients (bond buyers) who want a high interest rate (the opposite of what you want!) Underwriters have an incentive to put higher interest rates on your bonds so they can more easily sell them If an underwriter takes competitive bids, federal law [...]

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