Municipal News & Jobs

This program provides up to $500 million in grant funding to help broaden access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines, rural health care services, and food assistance through food banks and food distribution facilities. Eligible applicants include public bodies, community-based nonprofits, and federally-recognized Tribes. Facilities and projects supported through this grant must be located in rural areas with populations of 20,000 or fewer, and must primarily serve rural areas. Learn more about the program.

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.

Support for groundwater conservation efforts isn’t the issue. What those efforts will look like is the question that continues to confront Groundwater Management District No. 1. While landowners and operators within the five-county GMD are overwhelming in support of establishing a Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA), determining how to reduce water allocations will be the subject of hearings over the next year. A tentative timetable to put the LEMA into effect is January 2023.
Source: Scott County Record

Much of rural Kansas is losing population as metropolitan areas grow and the state becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, new 2020 Census data show. The Census Bureau released redistricting data Thursday showing 80 of the state’s 105 counties lost population in the past 10 years. Kansas also grew more racially and ethnically diverse over the past decade. The data will be used to redraw state political maps for congressional, legislative and board of education districts. The population shifts will further concentrate political power in cities and away from rural areas. The statistics were released on the second-to-last day of a weeklong listening session on redistricting, during which the Kansas House and Senate committees are holding 14 town halls across the state.
Source: CJonline.com.

The Scott City Council would like to see more done to remove dilapidated trailer homes or demolish structures that are beyond repair, but building codes are an obstacle. Under current regulations, if someone wants to demolish a trailer home within the city they are required to purchase a $1 million liability insurance policy. Building inspector Lloyd Foster referred to that level of liability coverage as “overkill” when he brought up the issue at the last council meeting.
Source: Scott County Record

Municipals remain attractive as an asset class … In the near term, summer technicals have generated very visible net negative supply conditions, according to Jeff Lipton, managing director and head of municipal credit and market strategy and municipal capital markets at Oppenheimer & Co. … “If the outlook for the future tax bite stays muted for a while longer and we continue to receive heavier doses of hawkish Fed speak and higher inflation data points, yields may experience continued upward pressure,” he added. … Even without a rise in federal tax rates,
municipals should continue to offer “very desirable credit quality and diversification attributes,” which are expected to further entice foreign investment into the asset class, according to Lipton.
Source: Bond Buyer.

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.

t appears the Evel Knievel Museum will be jumping from Topeka to Las Vegas. A Las Vegas newspaper reported Monday the museum dedicated to the career of Robert Craig Knievel, who became known for his death-defying stunts and tricks on motorbikes, will move to the Las Vegas Arts District. Amanda Beach, the museum’s marketing director in Topeka, said Tuesday the report was “a bit premature” but the deal is “imminent.” The museum opened in Topeka in 2017.
Source: LJWorld.com.

Among the many factors working against the City of Lawrence’s efforts to have denser, more environmentally sustainable and ultimately more affordable housing is a development trend happening on land just beyond the city’s boundaries. Recent decades have seen a boom of rural neighborhoods with multi-acre lots near the city’s boundaries, precluding denser city expansion in those areas and creating other problems for both the city and the county. Newly proposed regulations would put a halt to such developments and encourage what planners say is a smarter way for the community to grow.
Source: LJWorld.com.

After making a couple of changes, city leaders have approved a plan that will shape development in the downtown district for years to come. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 3-1, with Commissioner Lisa Larsen absent and Commissioner Stuart Boley opposed, to adopt the Downtown Lawrence Plan with the changes agreed to during the meeting. Commissioners voted to change the wording of the plan to make a stronger commitment to increasing housing downtown, and they also added a reference to an existing plan that would serve as a guide for arts and culture efforts.
Source: LJWorld.com.

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.

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.