Kansas Municipal News
A Kansas town’s fluoride fight could hint at what’s ahead
A fight over fluoride in drinking water in Abilene, Kansas, could preview battles likely to play out in cities across the country as the next presidential administration puts a spotlight on the issue. Plus: President-elect Trump’s immigration policies will likely affect the meatpacking industry, and in turn, the cost of food. Members of the incoming Trump administration want to remove fluoride from public water. It’s drawing more attention to the mineral many cities add to public water supplies to strengthen peoples’ teeth. As Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports, a town in Kansas just went through that debate last year.
Source: KCUR News
Local Superintendents to Meet Over Potential Southern Cloud Dissolution
With the potential for Southern Cloud Unified School District 334 to dissolve, five area superintendents will meet on January 22nd in Glasco. Representatives from five surrounding school districts will attend, including, USD 379 Clay County (Clay Center and Wakefield schools), USD 273 Mitchell County (Beloit schools), USD 333 Cloud (Concordia schools), USD 224 Clifton-Clyde, and 239 North Ottawa (Minneapolis schools). The meeting will discuss the potential distribution of 334 school boundaries if their board votes to close Southern Cloud. USD 379 Superintendent Brett Nelson said that in previous situations, the state made decisions when all entities were not in agreement.
Source: KCLY Radio
Wichita bond issue draws supporters and opponents as campaign heats up
Groups on both sides of a proposed bond issue for Wichita schools have named leaders and launched campaigns ahead of the February election. Wichita United for Better Education, a political action committee formed by Republican strategist Ben Davis to oppose the bond issue, said on a new website that the Wichita district should focus on basic maintenance and student test scores rather than building new schools. Bradley Dyer Jr., a senior business development officer with Credit Union of America, is spearheading a “Yes for Wichita Kids” campaign in favor of the bond issue. He said the proposal is a responsible plan to make long-term improvements.
Source: KCUR News
KU research suggests wind power isn’t a red vs. blue issue in Kansas
New wind installations aren’t allowed in about one-fifth of Kansas counties, in part to protect the nation’s last, largest swath of tallgrass prairie.
Wind power can spark passionate reactions – at times dividing neighbors and communities – but unlike many other hot-button topics, how this one shakes out across Kansas may not follow political lines. Researchers at the University of Kansas have begun exploring the drivers behind the regulations that vary county by county and control where wind farms are – and aren’t – allowed. They’ve created a first-of-its-kind interactive atlas that pulls together rules for the state’s 105 counties, creating “a real gold mine” for analysts to plumb in search of patterns, urban planning associate professor Ward Lyles said.
Source: KCUR News
Kansas school districts request more bond money than can be given, first in state history
It’s a first for Kansas. School districts statewide have asked for more bond project money than the Department of Education can give out. This means some districts have to wait to make improvements. Dozens of districts are looking at their needs closely, meaning that historical questions put some district leaders in a position to table their requests. This puts their local votes on the back burner until at least July 1 of the next fiscal year.
Source: KSN-TV
Update: PowerSchool cyberattack impact on Winfield
Kansas schools that use PowerSchool are still looking into how a cybersecurity incident may have impacted their students and employees. Last week, Kansas school districts were notified that PowerSchool was the victim of a nationwide data breach from approximately Dec. 19 to Dec. 23. The company said the breach involved student data. Some Kansas school districts that use PowerSchool are Andover, Buhler, Haysville, Rose Hill and Winfield.
Source: KSN-TV
Liberal receives funding, looking to create railroad overpass
Federal funding is helping reconnect a southwest Kansas community. Liberal received over $1.6 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program. Currently, the city of 20,000 is split by the Union Pacific Rail Line. This money will be used to study sites where an overpass can be built so trains don’t tie up traffic.
Source: KSN-TV
Wichita passed new rules for golf carts on city streets. Here’s what you can & can’t do
Wichita now has one of the more restrictive ordinances in Kansas for golf carts on public streets. It will allow their use only on streets with posted speed limits of 30 mph or less. State statute already prohibits the use of golf carts on highways and arterial streets. Wichita also will prohibit their use in the core area — downtown, Old Town and Delano — as well as on sidewalks and walking and bike paths. To operate a golf cart, drivers must have a valid driver’s license and be at least 18 years old. Wichita is one of the only cities in the state that has an age restriction on operating golf carts.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Douglas County to open applications for property tax rebates for seniors, disabled veterans
Douglas County has launched its pilot program to give older people and veterans with service-related disabilities a break on their property taxes. The program will give folks ages 65 and up and disabled veterans who meet income guidelines a maximum rebate of $300, or the county portion of their property tax, whichever is less.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Municipal Bond Trends for January 14, 2025
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.
State offers $3 million to complete Sand Creek dream
The State of Kansas called Newton and wanted to give $3 million to connect the two sections of its bike path. The catch? The Kansas Department of Transportation needed an answer by Jan. 15. The city’s first meeting after the offer was on Jan. 14. The project would connect the Sand Creek Trail from where it ends south of First Street at the Sand Creek Dam to where it picks up at SW 14th Street. From there, it runs near the new wetlands park and through the Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
Completing the trail has been on the city’s list of future capital improvement projects since 2007, but there was never the funding there to do so.
Source: Harvey County Now
Sedgwick has a trio of attorneys to work with
Sedgwick’s new city attorney, Jennifer Hill of McDonald Tinker Law Firm in Wichita, brings with her over 20 years of civil litigation work for governmental entities and another four years of experience as a city attorney. Hill, a Wichita native, began practicing law in her hometown in 2003 and joined McDonald Tinker in 2005. Working with Hill in Sedgwick will be Associate Attorneys Scott Ufford and Matt Gorney. Hill said that Ufford and Gorney will handle the prosecution docket and the monthly city council meeting on the first Wednesday of each month. Hill will attend the second monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of each month.
Source: Harvey County Now
Municipal Bond Trends for January 13, 2025
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.
‘Life and death’: Rescuers use tractors and a helicopter to reach people stranded in snow
A volunteer fire chief picked up a stranded, terminally ill man with his tractor and delivered him safely to a hospital. A Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter rescued motorists stuck in the snow. It all happened near Hope, Kansas, which got around 15 inches of snow during last weekend’s winter storm. “It was life and death,” said Billy Lininger, who was on the way to the emergency room with his wife and son when they got stuck in the snow and called Dickinson Co. Fire District No. 2 Chief Chad Lorson. “My kid might not have made it if it wasn’t for Chad.”
Source: Wichita Eagle
Frontenac reviews new ordinance on shipping containers
The Frontenac City Council held their first meeting at their new time on Wednesday evening, which is now at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. On the docket was a new ordinance concerning large shipping containers like what is often found on construction sites. In recent years, these containers have become popular building material for new homes. Frontenac says they are not up to residential code and cannot be used for that purpose.
Source: Morning Sun
A Bond Selloff Is Rocking the World. You Might Want to Take the Other Side.
Wall Street is really worried about bonds. It might be time to buy some. On Friday, a jobs report that blew past expectations pushed yields on 10-year Treasurys to 4.772%, the highest close since Nov. 1, 2023, and those on 30-year paper to 4.962%. What is spooking markets, however, is that much of the recent rise in yields doesn’t appear to reflect expectations of stronger economic growth. Rather, it might be the result of investors applying a higher discount or “term premium” to hold long-term bonds, estimates by the Federal Reserve suggest. Some analysts attribute this to the possibility of Donald Trump’s promised tariffs derailing the global economy and leading to a jump in inflation, while his tax cuts bloat budget deficits further.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets
Should Cities Open Their Own Grocery Stores?
By now, most people are familiar with the concept of food deserts — areas where residents lack ready access to fresh foods. Should local governments step in to operate grocery stores in neighborhoods that don’t have them? Aside from ideological questions over whether governments should get involved with operating retail establishments, there are a number of practical hurdles that are difficult to overcome.
Source: Governing
Kansas landowners are renting out yards as puppy playgrounds
Sniffspot, a short-term rental website and app, lets property owners rent out their yards or other spaces as private dog parks. So far there are about 200 Sniffspots in Kansas, but the number is growing. More than 40% of Kansas households have a dog, but not everyone has a place where dogs can run, explore and burn off energy. Enter Sniffspot. The website and app lets people list their backyards or other spaces to rent by the hour as puppy playgrounds. The site began in 2018 in Seattle, where David Adams lived with a couple of energetic mixed-breed dogs named Toshii and Soba.
Source: Garden City Telegram
City develops policy for pets of homeless people in shelter
The City of Wichita said a policy at the emergency winter homeless shelter will allow for pets to be housed for a period of time during severe winter storms and cold snaps. The issue came up during a discussion Tuesday at the regular City Council meeting, after Wichita police reported that 76 out of 110 homeless people contacted by the Homeless Outreach Team had refused to go to shelter during the past weekend’s winter storm. Vice-Mayor Maggie Ballard said people don’t want to be separated from their pets and more work needs to be done to get the word out on the pet policy. The city said unhoused residents staying in the emergency winter shelter are able to bring pets to the Wichita Animal Shelter for where they will be held for 72 hours and taken care of at no cost until the winter storm has passed. After leaving the shelter, pets will also receive free spay/neuter service and vaccinations.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Leon eliminates dog and cat permit fees
The City of Leon City Council voted on January 6 to eliminate permit fees for dogs and cats in an effort to alleviate costs for residents and encourage them to spay/neuter their animals to reduce population. Previously Leon required dog and cat owners to permit each animal at $5 per animal if they were spay/neutered and $15 per animal if they weren’t spay/neutered. Residents often spoke to the council on rising cost of living expenses and felt they were being nickel and dimed after the water rates were raised to support new infrastructure. Jodie Laidler, City/Court Clerk for the City of Leon said the council listened. She thought of the proposal to eliminate dog and cat fees as well as lower other animal fees as a response to concerned citizens. She said the Council was in full support of the proposal.
Source: Andover American