Municipal News & Jobs

Individual retail investors (including their separately managed accounts), and their mutual fund proxies hold about 70% of outstanding municipal bonds according to MSRB data (MSRB-Muni-Facts.pdf).  ETFs, representing 4% of the market, comprise the fastest growing segment. Banks (including credit unions), held about 9% of outstanding municipal securities through Q3 2025, a 19% decline since 2022. Although insurance companies hold 9% of outstanding municipal bonds, their portfolio allocations to the asset class have been declining.
Read more: Bond Buyer

The report is called the Douglas County EV Readiness Report. It was produced by the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization and the city and county sustainability departments, and its goal is to support future planning for EV infrastructure as more electric cars get on the road.
Read more: LJWorld

A neighborhood squawk over chickens may be scratched — for now. The owner of eight hens and two roosters have rehomed the animals, but still faces a Valley Center Municipal Court hearing for potentially violating city ordinance. Meanwhile, others in the neighborhood around 63rd North and Sullivan on the south side of the city may have chickens or roosters that are disturbing the peace.
Read more: Ark Valley News

Fearing rising utility costs, job losses and privacy violations, residents have blocked or delayed data-center projects around the country.
Read more: Wall Street Journal

A Kansas native, Stiles has served in city governments in his home state for nearly 20 years, and is excited about the opportunity to take on this new challenge at the county level.
Read more: Salina Journal

Synopsis: K.S.A. 12-16,140 and 12-16,141 obligate state and local law enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration officials and to honor ICE detainer requests on the basis of such cooperation. State and local law enforcement officers are also authorized to arrest illegal aliens in cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Read more: Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2026-2

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.

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.

Lawrence has already fallen short of its 2025 goal for fully powering municipal operations with renewable energy, and city staff say this, along with other targets, is unrealistic and lacks a clear path on how to achieve them. Now, staff want to recommend repealing an ordinance passed in 2020 outlining all of these goals.
Read more: LJWorld.com

Why is Hillsboro Industries in Newton? Housing, for one. Last week, local elected officials, city staff, business owners and others involved in economic development heard from and asked questions to a panel including GAF VP Tommy Richardson and Hillsboro Industries CEO Michael Gerkin. Both individuals answered the question about what made Newton attractive to their companies. “Newton had a strategic plan, and Newton’s doing housing,” he said. Gerkin said the lack of available housing made them begin to look outside of Hillsboro, where the company began. As part of their search, they traveled up and down I-135, considering a location.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Panasonic is exploring a potential shift at its De Soto battery plant as electric-vehicle sales slow and artificial intelligence data centers create new energy storage opportunities.
Read more: Kansas City Business Journal

On Tuesday, the House Elections Committee held hearings on House Bill 2452, a proposal to increase accountability in local government by moving all Kansas elections to even-numbered years. Currently, most local elections are held in odd-numbered years, often seeing voter turnout below 20 percent and even falling into the single digits in many communities. The bill aims to boost participation and ensure elected officials are accountable to a broader electorate. Chairman Pat Proctor noted that a previous effort to move local elections from spring to November in odd years failed to increase turnout, with some areas still seeing fewer than 10 percent of voters participating. Proctor also said he believes the measure could help address one of Kansas’s biggest challenges- rapidly rising property taxes- by giving more voters a say in local government decisions.
Read more: KCLY Radio

Organizers released the route map for this year’s Biking Across Kansas on Saturday. The annual group bike ride from one end of the state to the other will take place in June. This year’s route will travel from the Colorado border to the Missouri border on a southern path. The route mainly travels along U.S. Highway 160 Highway, with some deviations onto U.S. 56, U.S. 400 and other highways along the way.
Read more: KSN-TV

City of Lawrence staff will make recommendations to commissioners to repeal a 2020 renewable energy ordinance and instate a new resolution aiming to attain climate neutrality by 2050, which would be tied to a countywide climate plan. Kathy Richardson, the city’s sustainability director, said that climate neutrality is defined by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding greenhouse gas use in government operations and throughout the community. This would mean Lawrence has a net-zero emission level. The resolution hasn’t been drafted yet, as staff members want to first gauge commissioners’ interest in pursuing a revised project while sunsetting the ordinance. 
Read more: The Lawrence Times

Six viral diseases — including COVID-19, the flu and norovirus — have been found at high concentrations in Lawrence wastewater as Kansas communities face peak flu season. COVID-19, influenza A and B, RSV, human metapneumovirus, and norovirus have all been detected at high concentrations in Lawrence wastewater within the last three weeks. Wastewater data indicates trends of illnesses spreading within a community but does not correlate to exact case numbers, with doctors saying it’s normal to see high concentrations of respiratory illness during flu season. “Wastewater data does not measure individual cases, but it provides a reliable picture of how much virus is circulating in a community,” said Veronica White, preparedness and epidemiology coordinator for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. “This data captures viral genetic material shed by everyone using the sewer system. One factor that may be contributing to the higher concentrations of respiratory viruses seen in Lawrence’s wastewater is its larger population.”
Read more: The Lawrence Times

Humanities Kansas announces the five Kansas museums participating in “History Makers: The Future is Now,” an innovative statewide strategic planning initiative for rural museums from Humanities Kansas. Inspired by American’s 250th, “History Makers” recognizes the importance of local history in telling America’s stories. Franklin County Historical Society in Ottawa; Lincoln County Historical Society in Lincoln; Miners Hall Museum in Franklin; Scott County Historical Society in Scott City; and Wabaunsee County Historical Society in Alma; were selected through a competitive process to participate in the year-long initiative. As part of “History Makers,” the five museums will participate in statewide and local meetings with Carla Patterson, a nonprofit cultural consultant specializing in rural museums, and create a plan with tools to address the needs ahead.
Read more: Dodge City Daily Globe

As the countdown to the World Cup in Kansas City continues, business owners, cities, and others around the metro are looking for ways to capitalize on the economic boost it’s expected to bring. Some homeowners plan to list their homes as short-term rentals this summer, including John Buschmann, who is preparing to list his Olathe home as a short-term rental for World Cup visitors. “It’s going to be a financial boom for the entire city from restaurants, bars, nightly rentals, hotels, all that. It’s going to be great for the city, and I’m hoping to capitalize on that too,” Buschmann said. “When they decided to bring the World Cup here, it was kind of a no-brainer to at least look into it [Listing a short-term rental]. As we’re getting closer, we’re really starting to see what revenue looks like,” Buschmann said. The company Buschmann is listing with estimates that his short-term rental property could bring in tens of thousands of dollars, ranging from $40,000 to $60,000.
Read more: FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

Monica Curls still remembers being about 10 years old waiting around after Chiefs home games to get autographs from players on the team. Curls said her family has had season tickets since 2007. They also had season tickets in the 1970s when the Chiefs first moved into the Arrowhead Stadium, but those seats weren’t as good so the family got rid of their season tickets. They kept showing up for games, though. The Chiefs have announced plans to leave Missouri after getting more than $2 billion in incentives from Kansas. The team is expected to build a stadium in Wyandotte County and a mixed-used development in Olathe with a practice facility and team headquarters. Kansas has offered to finance 60% of the multi-billion dollar project, or $1.8 billion in bonds for the stadium and another $1 billion in bonds for other projects. One economist says this is the largest public subsidy of a professional sports stadium in American history. And Kansas did this to entice fans like Curls, and all the generations of her family, to spend their money in Kansas instead of Missouri.
Read more: Johnson County Post

During the growing season, bees, butterflies, and buyers swarm to the rippling strips of lavender on Rick and Ingrid Elam’s farm near Winfield. “It’s pretty amazing to watch all the bees and the moths and the butterflies and all the pollinators in there,” Rick Elam says. “A lot of people just take pictures of them as they go.” The Elams have two acres of lavender and 30 bee hives, from which they derive 32 products. But they’re thinking bigger these days, thanks to the launch of the Border Queen Harvest Hub in nearby Caldwell: a commercial kitchen that can increase their product line.  A harvest hub is a community-based operation that brings together producers, processors and distributors of local food. Those products can, in turn, be purchased locally, regionally, and nationally. The hub “helped quite a bit in getting our name out there,” Rick Elam says. “Now it’s up to us to fine-tune the products that we have and get those in the hands of the people that want them.” Recently launched hubs in Sumner, Sedgwick and Rice counties are thriving. A thriving food network in McCune, about 150 miles east of Wichita, is touted as an example for sparsely populated sectors of the state to emulate.
Read more: KLC Journal

Wichita voters head to the polls to weigh in on a proposed 1% sales tax in five weeks. If approved, the expected $850 million in revenue would be divvied up into five different categories. City staff presented several kinds of guardrails to the Wichita City Council on Tuesday. These rules would govern how the funds from the sales tax would be collected, distributed, and spent. The biggest funding commitment is restoring and expanding the Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center. Money would also be spent on public safety, property tax relief, housing and homeless services and a new downtown performing arts center.
Read more: KSN-TV

Ever have one of those weekends? Maybe you should ask the same question to the whole Oxford community. In a 12-hour span from late Friday evening to early Saturday morning in subarctic zero conditions, the Oxford community experienced not only an electrical outage but also a water break. Today, Oxford is operating at 100 percent after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment lifted a boil-water advisory this morning. The trouble started at 5 p.m. Friday evening when the lights went out in Oxford. The temperature was 7 degrees, with a wind chill of -14. At 7:48 p.m., short of three hours, power was restored. Oxford residents, like the rest of Sumner County, planned to spend the rest of the weekend hunkered down as the storm blew through. When Oxford residents woke up the next morning, many residents noticed that little to no water was coming out of their faucets. Oxford utility workers immediately headed north of town to the town wells and saw something they hadn’t expected — a newly formed lake that wasn’t frozen. “We have never had any problem with the water line before,” said Shannon Brister, Oxford City Clerk. “I would say this was the largest water leak in Oxford history.”
Read more: Sumner NewsCow

An estimated 650,000 visitors are expected to visit northeast Kansas and Kansas City in June and July, and businesses and the city are working to attract those visitors to Eudora. The 2026 World Cup is coming to the United States, Canada and Mexico, with Kansas City set to host six matches from June 16 to July 11. FIFA World Cup KC estimated that communities within a 200-mile radius will see an influx in tourism, according to previous reporting,  Jason Musick, owner of Barbwire Barbecue and a Conventions and Visitors Bureau member, said his business is waiting on what team, if any, decides to stay in Lawrence. FIFA highlighted Lawrence as a potential base camp for countries playing in the tournament, but final camp assignments will be released by the end of January. If a team chooses Lawrence, they will stay at the Oread Hotel and practice at Rock Chalk Park, according to Lawrence2026.com.
Read more: The Eudora Times

During last week’s Hutchinson City Council budget workshop regarding the potential impacts if the proposed 0.75% sales tax increase is voted down March 3, Hutchinson Fire Department Chief Steven Beer asked, “What level of service do you want?” While it will ultimately be up to council members decide how to balance the budget if voters reject the sales tax increase of which Hutchinson City Manager Enrico Villegas said, “It just makes our expense and revenue lines match,” at last week’s Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce State of the City breakfast, below are potential cuts city department heads offered up to the council as impacts to their departments if the worst case scenario happens.
Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

Funding for a community-built America 250 Patriot’s Flag mural mosaic was approved Monday night by Marysville City Council. April Spicer, who spoke on behalf of OneMarysville, said the goal is to unveil the mural on the Fourth of July. In the written request, OneMarysville executive director Wayne Kruse wrote, “This project is designed to strengthen the visitor experience. It creates a new, Marysville-specific attraction that can be promoted year round. It adds a strong visual element for downtown and event photography and it gives us a tangible America250 feature that can be highlighted in tourism marketing and during major community weekends like the Fourth of July.”
Read more: www.marysvilleonline.net

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.

More than $4.1 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding has been awarded for 12 projects across Kansas. The investments will strengthen infrastructure, housing and economic opportunities in rural and low- to moderate-income communities. The 12 awardees will receive a total of $4,125,316 in federal funds, which was matched by $9,158,623 in local investments. The result was a combined total of $12,283,939 to be used for public improvements in communities across the state.
Read more: Kansas Department of Commerce

The Downtown Revive & Thrive: Rehabilitation for Innovation and Incubator Spaces program has a total of $500,000 available in funding for Kansas communities with populations of 5,000 or less for projects that result in functional business incubator spaces or facilities designed for temporary retail or restaurant operations. The program is designed to support projects that repurpose existing infrastructure to create spaces and provide equipment for pop-up retail and restaurants that drive economic growth and contribute vibrancy to communities.
Read more: Kansas Department of Commerce

Meeting market expectations, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep its key interest rate in a range between 3.5%-3.75%. The decision put a halt to three consecutive quarter percentage point reductions, billed as maintenance moves to guard against potential downturns in the labor market.
Read more: CNBC

Borrowing in the municipal bond market surpassed $500 billion last year, breaking the $498 billion record set in 2024. The “muni market” is now worth well over $4 trillion, roughly equivalent to the market capitalization of Nvidia, the chip maker that has soared on the artificial intelligence boom, driving stocks to record highs.
Read more: NYT Business

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.

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.

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.

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.

The town of Green received its name in 1868 when Governor Nehemiah Green offered to buy a bell for the first Methodist Church to be established in a town named Green. The people of the area placed the name on their area, and the Governor made good on his promise.
Read more: KCLY Radio

Clay Barker, general counsel for the Secretary of State’s office, said during a hearing that combining elections would “exponentially increase” the number of ballot versions printed, to account for the boundary lines of small offices, such as school board seats and drainage districts. He also said the ballots would be much longer, costing more to print and leading to longer lines at the polls as voters take more time to fill them out.
Read more: The Iola Register

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.

It took her longer than she planned, but Jamie Wiseman is realizing her dream come true as Bentley’s newest police officer. Growing up, Wiseman watched her mom (postmaster) and dad (mechanic) don a uniform every morning and work hard for their family, so she thought that’s what she would do. She picked a police officer. In 2021, she attended the Citizens Police Academy in Wichita and began volunteering for events throughout the year. In 2023, she attended the Wichita Police Academy, where she qualified on handguns and shotguns, the tools on her duty belt, and completed the case law, among other items. She considered working in her hometown of Spearville but didn’t want to drive four hours for each shift, so she began emailing local small-town departments. Bentley Police Chief James “Tim” Bryan was the only one who had a position open and was interested in hiring part-time. He said the agency has had female officers in the past. “I felt that the addition of another woman would be a value-add for our small department,” Bryan said. “Her upbringing in a town of comparable size, her living in proximity to Bentley, being a mother, and her passion to serve were all considerations.”
Read more: Harvey County Now

Now that the news of the Kansas City Chiefs’ move from Arrowhead Stadium to a new facility in Kansas has begun to sink in, many Kansans are reflecting on the tax incentive package used to get them here, say some state lawmakers. As the Kansas Legislature geared up for the session opening this week, members of the state Legislative Budget Committee said they have been flooded with constituent questions about the particulars of the Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bonds that will make up a significant portion of the funding. Legislators passed those questions on to a representative of the state Department of Commerce last week. Not all of the questions could be immediately answered, because final elements of the stadium location and property ownership are yet to be worked out.
Read more: Johnson County Post

On a lot of minds lately is the large jump in property taxes for 2026. County resident Roger Lomshek has been making the rounds among the county commission, USD 250 Board of Education, and the Pittsburg City Commission trying to convince them to reopen their 2026 budgets and possibly offer a rebate to taxpayers. USD 250 flatly refused. Crawford County and Pittsburg have been discussing the issue. At Tuesday night’s city commission meeting, Pittsburg commissioners agreed to investigate whether it is legal to reopen and redo the budget and explore possible options.
Read more: -Morning Sun

A year of hard work has paid off. Captain Steven Dryzmalla of the Hesston Police Department completed a year-long Law Enforcement Leadership Academy through the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center and the University of Kansas. To complete the course, Dryzmalla had to complete a capstone project, and he did exactly that. Dryzmalla has been working for HPD since 2011. The course was for command staff and above, usually lieutenant and above. Dryzmalla said the class covered topics from leadership to budgeting, to even working on recruitment or retention and a succession plan. The course even covered how to present projects to governing bodies.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Although Lenexa officials last year approved an over 66% increase in the number of places available at Project 1020, the county’s only cold-weather homeless shelter, the facility at the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church has been full to overflowing every day this season since it opened Dec. 1, say organizers. On Thursday, advocates for people without housing asked for and got help from county commissioners in the form of funding of up to $25,000 for vouchers for hotel or motel stays — at negotiated rates — to help those residents who get to the shelter after it fills up. The funding is intended to last through March 31, after which the shelter closes for the season.
Read more: Johnson County Post

Hillsboro is fielding increasing complaints about feral and stray cats damaging property and straining relations between neighbors. But city administrator Matt Stiles told city council members Tuesday that the city has limited capacity to respond. Police mainly deal with stray dogs. Stray cats and other small animals are handled with live traps lent to residents and a local resident who helps on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Read more: Marion County RECORD

County commissioners Tuesday delayed a decision on imposing a moratorium on commercial battery energy storage systems to add language proposed by Commissioner Clarke Dirks offering reasons for the moratorium. County counsel Brad Jantz, who was not at the meeting, drafted the same resolution for Harvey County but did not include rationale mentioned by Dirks. Dirks said data centers and battery storage used tremendous amounts of energy.
Read more: Marion County RECORD

St. Luke Hospital is considering whether to change how hospital board elections are conducted. “We have historically pretty low participation in our elections from the general public, unless there’s something controversial going on,” chief executive Alex Haines said. Elections are conducted during the hospital district’s annual meeting in May.
Read more: Marion County RECORD

The Hutchinson City Council is taking the next steps toward renovating some of the city’s most iconic structures. The council unanimously approved a STAR bond project plan Tuesday evening after holding a public hearing. The proposal uses sales tax revenue to improve three key sites in hopes of drawing more tourists to Hutchinson. “What is helpful about STAR bonds is that it allows municipalities to make investments into our community into those attractions that, in turn, will bring in more visitors,” Dave Sotelo, Hutchinson’s director of strategic growth, said in an interview with KSN before the City Council meeting. The STAR bond is expected to fund renovations to Memorial Hall and the Landmark Apartments, as well as major upgrades at the Cosmosphere.
Read more: KSN-TV