News – Page 1925 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

5-percent increase in water rates approved for Wichita in 2020 to fund new treatment facility

info2019-12-03T20:08:47-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a 5-percent water and sewer rate increase in 2020 to help fund Wichita's new water treatment facility. The rate adjustment, which is expected to gradually increase over the next few years, will fund a small portion of the $553 million total project cost for the Northwest Water Treatment Facility, a project that will replace Wichita's existing 80-year-old plant. With the new combined water and sewage rate increase, homeowners are expected to pay between $2 and $7 more each month, while commercial businesses are expected to face about a $28 increase. Industrial customers will [...]

OP approves $200M in tax incentives for billion-dollar Brookridge project

info2019-12-03T20:06:46-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

The long-planned Brookridge redevelopment project won a supermajority approval for more than $200 million in tax incentives during a marathon Overland Park City Council meeting that ran from Monday night into early Tuesday morning. According to the Shawnee Mission Post, Mayor Carl Gerlach cast the final and deciding vote in favor of the project around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday. (Read more: Kansas City Business Journal - The Business Journals)

Zoning discussion to focus on county’s southeast corner

info2019-12-03T19:57:34-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

The chair of the Reno County Planning Commission agreed Tuesday to have the planning board take up the question of zoning the southeast corner of the county soon and to leave debate about zoning other parts of the county for later. That after board chairwoman Lisa French was asked to appear before the Reno County Commission to receive the suggestion. “We hear a lot of support for doing zoning in the southeast part,” French said. “We got hung up on thinking about the whole county, so the direction from you encourages us to deal with that first. It will help us [...]

Labette County forms wind farm board

info2019-12-03T22:22:12-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

Labette County commissioners on Monday set the advisory committee that will look into wind farm regulations and also gave the facilitator some direction on getting the group started. The commission named the members to the wind farm study group by a series of resolutions. They are Sandy Krider, Labette County Public Works director; Rod Landrum, retired executive director of the Labette Health Foundation; Kevin King, a crop insurance agent who lives near Big Hill Lake; Mel Hass, who formerly lived within the footprint of a wind farm in DeKalb County, Illinois, before moving to Labette County; and Lori Whitworth, an attorney [...]

Roeland Park council approves city boundary change for the first time since 1959

info2019-12-03T19:52:20-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

The Roeland Park city council in November adopted a resolution changing the city boundary for the first time in 60 years. “Roeland Park just got a little bigger,” Mayor Mike Kelly said. When a city boundary is changed by the addition or exclusion of land, Kansas state law requires that city to declare, via a resolution, a city boundary before Dec. 31. This year, Roeland Park annexed 1.269 acres of land at the northeast corner of Roe Avenue and Johnson Drive. (Read more: Prairie Village Post - Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)

Wichita City Council approves more than $100 million in aerospace IRBs

info2019-12-03T19:49:57-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved more than $100 million in industrial revenue bonds for local aerospace companies. The approved IRBs will help finance the completed construction of a new facility being leased to the city’s largest employer, Spirit AeroSystems Inc., and facility upgrades throughout 2019 for the second-largest employer, Textron Aviation. IRBs require no taxpayer commitment and the city acts only as a pass-through entity. However, using IRB financing can help developers and companies secure a lower interest rate on projects. (Read more: Wichita Business Journal)

Manhattan Parks and Rec hopes to begin work on new recreation facilities in 2020

info2019-12-03T22:20:44-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

As the Manhattan Parks & Recreation Department looks ahead to 2020, a major focus will be placed on facility improvements, including recreation facilities that will be constructed at the two Manhattan middle schools. Parks and Rec officials are anticipating a fast moving process for the two recreation centers. “The two middle school recreation centers that we’re working on jointly with the school district shared-use facilities, they’re in a final-design step right now and we hope to start construction on those in 2020 and have those open and available for the community in 2021,” Eddie Eastes, the director for Manhattan Parks and [...]

‘Reverse Robin Hood syndrome’: Overland Park Council approves $200M tax break deal

info2019-12-03T22:30:45-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

Neighbors have fought the deal for more than five years. But as Monday night’s Overland Park City Council meeting extended into Tuesday, residents learned they finally lost the battle — just barely. After four hours of discussion, the City Council approved a $200 million tax incentive deal for the redevelopment of the Brookridge Golf Course, northeast of Interstate 435 and Antioch Road. Council members previously voted down the $2 billion development deal, which includes turning a portion of the golf course into luxury apartments, retail and offices. (Read more: Joco 913 News)

Taxable boom may undermine the case for the muni tax-exemption

info2019-12-03T22:19:16-06:00December 3rd, 2019|

There is a small but growing concern among some municipal market participants that the increasing popularity of taxable muni bonds could begin to undermine the community’s traditional argument to protect the tax exemption. The proliferation of taxable muni deals this year is the result of a combination of factors, most prominently the loss of tax-exempt advance refundings in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and a low interest rate environment that has narrowed the spread between tax-exempt and taxable bonds. Analysts, lawyers, and lobbyists remain dedicated to the preservation of the tax exemption, but some said that an extended continuation [...]

Johnson County Police Academy will significantly increase recruits’ training on mental health, de-escalation

info2019-12-02T21:51:53-06:00December 2nd, 2019|

Starting in 2020, recruits going through the Johnson County Regional Police Academy will receive 21 hours of training on mental health and deescalation — eight hours more than required under Kansas law. The change, approved by the Johnson County Chiefs and Sheriffs Association last week, comes as local law enforcement agencies are seeing more and more calls involving people experiencing mental health issues. (Read more: Prairie Village Post)