info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

New housing options coming to Topeka

info2024-08-02T09:13:52-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

New options for housing are coming to Topeka. Tuesday, July 30, Topeka’s City Council approved having accessory dwelling units (ADU) within single-family zoning districts. ADU’s are already legal in multi-family districts and downtown districts. This will allow for a smaller independent houses to be on the same lot as a single-family home. The goal for this is to fill gaps in the city housing market and increase affordability. “We’ll have standards related to size, so there will be size limitations,” Planning Division Director Dan Warner said. “We’ll have requirements that one of the two units has to be owned or occupied, [...]

Reno County drug diversion offers some another chance

info2024-08-02T09:12:25-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

The Reno County first-time drug offender diversion program began at the beginning of this year. Since then, 21 people have been involved with the program, and only one has not succeeded so far. “The best benefit is that they move away from drug use and become productive citizens,” District Attorney Tom Stanton said. “If they’re successful and become productive citizens, we’re not spending money on prosecution, arrest and detention, jail and court costs and so on. We don’t use jail as a sanction much in this program, so we’re saving money in the county jail.” If people complete the program and [...]

Douglas County planning officials to explore potential rules for energy storage systems, data centers and cryptocurrency mining

info2024-08-02T08:57:41-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

After several requests from energy storage companies curious about expanding to Douglas County, the county’s Zoning and Codes division will start the process of drawing up specific rules for those kinds of uses — as well as high-tech operations that store data and mine cryptocurrencies. Source: LJWorld

To find out where Lawrence residents don’t want cuts, the city has been using an online budget simulator tool

info2024-08-02T08:56:33-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

When it comes to balancing municipal budgets, those same tradeoffs come at a scale of millions of dollars, and with more far-reaching effects. To figure out how Lawrence residents would make those tradeoffs, the city government has given them a tool to share their thoughts online — an interactive budget simulator called “A Balancing Act.” Alley Porter, the budget manager for the city’s finance department, said the tool has given the city some information on what services residents value most as it has crafted its 2025 budget proposal. Source: LJWorld

Osawatomie’s wastewater treatment plant is now complete

info2024-08-02T08:26:18-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

Improvements to Osawatomie’s wastewater treatment plant have been three years in the making, but the $2.5 million project is now complete, and council members recently toured the finished product. ... City Manager Bret Glendening said supply chain issues delayed the project early on, and a few issues with the new UV units also took time to resolve. Source: Miami County Republic

Surrounding cities that use Wichita water also working to conserve

info2024-08-02T08:18:14-05:00August 2nd, 2024|

Surrounding cities that buy water from Wichita, like the City of Derby, say they will follow Wichita’s lead when it comes to conserving. “When Wichita decides to announce, trigger going into stage two of their conservation plan, we go into phase two of our conservation plan,” said Derby City Manager Kiel Mangus. Like Wichita, Derby residents could face penalties if they don’t follow the rules, like limited outdoor watering. Source: KWCH

De Soto expecting significant 2025 property tax reduction

info2024-08-01T09:39:46-05:00August 1st, 2024|

Even before Panasonic’s $4 billion EV battery plant opens in De Soto, Kansas next year, city residents are already getting a better idea for how that massive investment will change their property values and property taxes. “We are in the extremely enviable position of being able to present to the public a 2025 budget that reduces the city property tax mil rate by a third,” De Soto City Administrator Mike Brungardt said. Source: Fox4KC

‘Years in the making’ — 2 JoCo cities hope to link downtowns by trail

info2024-07-31T11:38:58-05:00July 31st, 2024|

A new trail link may be on the horizon between the cities of Merriam and Shawnee. The two Johnson County cities submitted a joint project proposal to the Mid-America Regional Council, seeking up to $1 million to pay for a trail connection system that could ultimately link the cities’ downtowns. If approved, the cities would use the money from MARC to connect Shawnee’s Oxbow Trail to Merriam’s Turkey Creek Trail. Both trails are north of Shawnee Mission Parkway and are near each city’s downtown area. Source: Johnson County Post

JoCo homeless shelter plan moves ahead, as ardent backers and opponents weigh in

info2024-07-31T10:21:57-05:00July 31st, 2024|

Concerns about providing homeless services to “illegal aliens” and people from outside Johnson County dominated discussion at the county commission last Thursday about a proposal to open a shelter at a former La Quinta Inn and Suites hotel in Lenexa. After two hours of discussion that also included enthusiastic endorsements of the shelter plan from leaders of the interfaith Good Faith Network, commissioners ultimately voted to approve $3.7 million for renovations and operating costs for the hotel. Source: Johnson County Post

Small-town Kansan competes in Olympic marathon trials, encourages others to dream big

info2024-07-31T10:18:25-05:00July 31st, 2024|

Kaylee Bogina is from Arma, Kansas and recently competed at the Olympic trials marathon in February. Making it to that point is a huge goal she is proud to check off her list. Her running career began in high school and then continued through college at Adams State. She saw her brother and roommate compete in the trials and made it a goal for herself. “I remember watching them the whole way and thinking just, oh, how cool of an opportunity that they got to go and do that,” Bogina said. “And I think from that moment on, I was kind [...]

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