Emporia residents urged to help set city’s ‘action plan’ during next week’s visioning meetings

2023-03-17T12:26:03-05:00March 17th, 2023|

Emporians are asked to give their thoughts on community needs and goals during a pair of visioning meetings on the calendar next week. ... This part of the process connected to funding through the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge approved for Emporia back in November. The RDA is working with Atlas Community Studios on the grant, which is being split between Emporia and Tunica County, Mississippi. The USDA expects results of the grant to include an analysis of broadband Internet capacity for homes and businesses, strategy development to improve local housing, new or enhanced cultural and recreational amenities, [...]

Sales tax cut would cost Humboldt

2023-03-17T12:28:11-05:00March 17th, 2023|

In late February, the Kansas Senate passed a measure, Senate Bill 248, that eliminates the collection of sales taxes on food for cities and counties as well as that charged by the state. The difference to Humboldt would be about $52,000 garnered from its 1.75% sales tax on designated grocery items. Humboldt collected $462,000 in sales tax revenues for 2022. While that may appear negligible, the fact that state legislators can order such a change goes against the people’s will, Humboldt city administrator Cole Herder said. “It’s not good policy. The people of Humboldt voted to have that tax, and now [...]

Lawrence City Commission to consider land purchase, zoning and code exemption for Pallet Shelter Village

2023-03-17T12:29:02-05:00March 17th, 2023|

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will consider a $725,000 land purchase, a contract for $1.11 million of temporary shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and a resolution suspending zoning and code enforcement on that property for a year. The commission in December approved budgeting $4.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act money — federal COVID-19 relief funds — to purchase modular homes from Pallet, a Washington state-based “Public Benefit Corporation.” The modular Pallet homes, which will include a heating and cooling source but no bathrooms, will be part of a “village setting” that includes restrooms, laundry, shower and community gathering facilities and [...]

Western JoCo development at K-10/Ridgeview paves the way to future opportunity

2023-03-17T12:29:48-05:00March 17th, 2023|

Two decades ago, Ridgeview Road was a humble gravel road in western Lenexa. By 2020, a $30 million extension transformed it into a path of opportunity for 600 acres of all types of development. The area around the Kansas Highway 10 and Ridgeview interchange now is awash in projects either under construction or approved. News that Panasonic Ltd. is bringing a $4 billion, 4,000-job EV-battery plant down the highway undoubtedly will increase interest in the intersection. But the megaproject isn’t what triggered the current activity. “There was natural growth that was coming this way, whether it’s one plant or several companies [...]

Municipal Bond Trends for March 16, 2023

2023-03-17T09:18:15-05:00March 17th, 2023|

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, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.

Emporia gets a bit more magical

2023-03-16T12:37:45-05:00March 16th, 2023|

Emporia Main Street, along with several local businesses, have become the new homes for a collection of Fairy Doors. The community is invited to come downtown starting this week and look high and low (well mostly low) around local businesses for some new and colorful installations. Emporia Main Street launched this concept to provide the community and visitors a fun, free activity to do while visiting downtown and surrounding businesses. “We had such a great response to our interactive murals, and we wanted to produce another initiative that would draw people downtown,” explains Jessica Buchholz, Community Development Coordinator for Emporia Main [...]

Burrton considering request for Sunday liquor sales

2023-03-16T12:37:12-05:00March 16th, 2023|

Lisa Cokeley, owner of The Wet Spot, asked the Burrton City Council to consider making Sunday sales legal at its March 7 meeting. She later explained that the fact that other little towns in the region already allowed Sunday sales meant that it could be a good opportunity for the business she and her husband purchased about a month ago. She said she didn’t know what legal hoops she or the city would have to jump through to make it a reality. “I’ve talked to others who are doing very well on Sunday sales around here,” she said. Source: Harvey County [...]

Commissioners open to changes in how back taxes are collected

2023-03-16T12:36:23-05:00March 16th, 2023|

The Board of Harvey County Commissioners appeared willing to consider County Treasurer Becky Fields’s request to change how tax foreclosure actions are handled for people who are behind in their property taxes. Fields asked commissioners three times, including the past two weeks, to repeal the charter amendment the county enacted in May 2019 because she said any taxes paid get applied to the most recent tax bill owed. “That doesn’t help them, because it puts them in a tax sale,” she said. Fields said she wanted the county to follow the state statute whereby someone behind on property taxes could pay [...]

North Newton considering breaking away from planning and zoning, historic preservation commissions

2023-03-16T12:34:55-05:00March 16th, 2023|

North Newton Mayor Ron Braun said during the regular city council meeting Monday that allowing North Newton and Newton to have their own planning and zoning and historic preservation commissions is a matter of positivity. Currently, both towns have representatives on each of those commissions. He said the matter was formally brought up last year, and it’s just meant for each entity to deal with matters regarding their own towns. Newton takes up about 98 percent of the agendas anyway, he said. “Now the conversation focuses really not encumbering one city with another city’s agenda,” he said during the meeting. Source: [...]

Find the economic impact of the Kansas airport nearest you

2023-03-16T12:32:45-05:00March 16th, 2023|

If you have ever wondered how vital an airport can be to a Kansas town, no matter how big or small, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has the answer. For example, Wichita's Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport supports 20,583 jobs and has an economic output of $6.1 billion. Other Airports Jobs Supported Economic Output Topeka Regional 1,774 $199.9 million Salina Regional 640 $31.9 million Garden City Regional 232 $44.5 million Great Bend Municipal 137 $22.2 million Hays Regional 170 $22 million Goodland Municipal 128 $29.8 million Courtesy KDOT Division of Aviation “Every airport serves a unique and important role for [...]

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