News – Page 1090 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Douglas County Commission focuses on landlord relations during work session on needs of unhoused people

info2022-05-19T00:22:04-05:00May 19th, 2022|

Douglas County Commissioners on Wednesday heard the challenges facing an end to chronic homelessness in the county. Owen Cox, a researcher from the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research presented the findings of a two-part needs assessment on unhoused people. “We’re really hoping that what you see here today, and what you see in the final report, which is forthcoming, will really help guide any future sort of plans that you might make around tackling some of the issues that the needs assessment has uncovered.” After the presentation, Shannon Oury, executive director of Lawrence Douglas County Housing Authority, [...]

Atchison Embarks on Increased Code Enforcement Efforts

info2022-05-19T07:56:45-05:00May 19th, 2022|

The City is looking to partner with residents to address housing issues in response to recent feedback from the 2021 Community Survey. The survey showed only 23% of residents were satisfied with City enforcement of home/property maintenance issues, and 63% think the City should increase efforts to ensure private property is well maintained. In response, City Code Enforcement Officer Curtis Wheeler is asking residents who receive letters from his office to engage so that a solution can be found. “If you get something from us, please don’t ignore it,” Wheeler said. “If you reach out, we can work with you on [...]

Hutchinson City council hires former Reno County Administrator Gary Meagher as interim city manager

info2022-05-18T09:55:17-05:00May 18th, 2022|

The Hutchinson City Council on Tuesday approved hiring former Reno County Administrator Gary Meagher as an interim city manager. However, a discussion and any action on the process for hiring a full-time replacement for former City Manager Jeff Cantrell, whose contract the city council ended on May 3, was delayed because two city council members were absent from Tuesday’s meeting. Mayor Jade Piros de Carvalho said they'll try to hold a brief executive session during one of three upcoming special meetings on the budget to get the process started, but she wasn’t sure which meeting that will be. Under the agreement [...]

South Hutchinson officials debate the direction to take on economic development spending

info2022-05-18T09:54:17-05:00May 18th, 2022|

With the Hutchinson Chamber not making the cut last month for a state grant it sought to begin a new business park with, South Hutchinson city officials agreed Tuesday to take $500,000 it pledged for the project off the table, at least for now. However, the council was not in favor of the city spending money on a speculative commercial building of its own. South Hutchinson City Administrator Joseph Turner advised the council that the chamber would still like the city to commit the funds for economic development but that he was not "automatically willing to commit to another project right [...]

Kansas Supreme Court to hear JoCo ‘dark store’ case — with millions in tax dollars on the line

info2022-05-18T09:53:17-05:00May 18th, 2022|

A decision that could mean the difference in millions of dollars of tax revenue to Johnson County, its cities and school boards looms ahead as the Kansas Supreme Court prepares to hear a “dark store” case on Thursday. The Kansas Supreme Court on Wednesday hears Johnson County’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling upholding a state tax appeal board’s decision that the county owes Walmart $60 million in overpaid property taxes. Walmart successfully used the so-called “dark store theory” in arguing that the county had overvalued 11 of its properties in the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years. If the high court [...]

Future of passenger air service looking bright in Salina

info2022-05-18T07:11:39-05:00May 18th, 2022|

Although the current carrier, SkyWest Airlines, has been quiet after announcing it will be terminating service in the community, the Salina Airport Authority is encouraged about the future of passenger service to and from Salina. Tim Rogers, the executive director for the airport authority, updated the Salina City Commission Monday about the situation, and said that a proposal was submitted last week to the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. D.O.T.) for Essential Air Service (EAS) to the airport. “One proposal was received from Denver Air Connection...proposing 50-seat regional jet service to and from Salina and Denver, with an option for [...]

Municipal Bond Trends for May 17, 2022

info2022-05-18T07:06:40-05:00May 18th, 2022|

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.

Powell says the Fed will not hesitate to keep raising rates until inflation comes down

info2022-05-18T06:58:32-05:00May 18th, 2022|

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized his resolve to get inflation down, saying Tuesday he will back interest rate increases until prices start falling back toward a healthy level. "If that involves moving past broadly understood levels of neutral we won't hesitate to do that," the central bank leader told The Wall Street Journal in a livestreamed interview. "We will go until we feel we're at a place where we can say financial conditions are in an appropriate place, we see inflation coming down. "We'll go to that point. There won't be any hesitation about that," he added. Earlier this month, [...]

City of El Dorado closes pool for summer

info2022-05-18T00:36:58-05:00May 18th, 2022|

The City of El Dorado’s city manager, David Dillner announced on Tuesday morning the city public pool will be closed for the summer and maybe into next summer due to an electrical grounding issue at the pool. For the city of El Dorado, they were set to open the pool on Saturday, May 28 but Dillner announced on Facebook, an electrician was helping the city replace bulbs discovered the pool’s grounding system for the municipal pool had been compromised. “Due to the corrosive nature the pool environment and due to the fact the pool is about 50 years or so old [...]

Gov. Kelly signs autonomous vehicle bill into law

info2022-05-18T00:34:34-05:00May 18th, 2022|

Gov. Laura Kelly recently signed a bill into law that will allow for the expansion of driverless vehicles in Kansas under certain circumstances. Senate Bill 313 allows for autonomous vehicles to operate without a human driver when the vehicle can perform basic safety measures like moving to the shoulder of a road and operate under basic road rules. It also requires that the vehicles don't weigh more than 34,000 pounds on a tandem axle. The new law establishes an Autonomous Vehicle Advisory Committee, an agency that will be responsible for tracking the use and development of driverless vehicles in the state. [...]