Kansas Municipal News
Inflation rate eases to 4.9% in April, less than expectations
A widely followed measure of inflation rose in April, though the pace of the annual increase provided some hope that the cost of living will head lower later this year. The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.4% for the month, in line with the Dow Jones estimate, according to a Labor Department report Wednesday.
Source: Economy
Kansas Tourism Awards $421,820 in Attraction Development Grants
Kansas Tourism today announced $421,820 in Attraction Development Grants has been awarded to 10 recipients. The funding will be used to develop new tourism attractions or enhance existing sites across the state. Attraction Development Grants assist in the development of travel experiences that will influence visitors’ travel decisions. The program also spurs economic growth through the creation of jobs, capital investment, revenue and number of visits. “These grants are essential investments in the growth and development of communities across the state,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “Supporting new and exciting attractions enhances both the visitor experience and quality of life for existing Kansas residents.”
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
One Johnson County city is trying out composting
The city of Olathe will officially launch its compost dropoff program in the coming days, offering free disposal of food scraps to city residents at its multipurpose dropoff site at 1100 N. Hedge Lane. Olathe residents can stop by during the site’s open hours to dispose of any food waste, from meat and bones to eggshells, dairy products, produce scraps and processed foods. You simply deposit their scraps into one of the three 95-gallon trash bins housed inside a wooden corral.
Source: KC Star Local News
Why Overland Park needs more diverse trees
Cities in Kansas and Missouri are finding that they often have too many of the same kind of trees, making them extra vulnerable to pests and diseases. Houses sell for more money in neighborhoods with big, leafy canopies. So pests that can kill many trees quickly can pose real economic dangers. Kansas and Missouri communities are now hedging their arboreal bets.
Source: KCUR News
Municipal Bond Trends for May 9, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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, Beth Warren or Henry Schmidt.
The Local Infrastructure Hub Launches Spring Bootcamp Series to Help Cities Access Funding for Neighborhood Infrastructure and Broadband Equity
The Local Infrastructure Hub announced a new set of bootcamps designed to help local leaders develop comprehensive and strategic funding applications for federal grants made available to cities as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. This next series will focus on five grant opportunities that address highway-rail crossing improvements, drinking water systems, broadband planning, local infrastructure projects, and bridge infrastructure.
Source: www.nlc.org
Wichita’s libraries offering far more than just books these days
A book published a few years back described public libraries as “palaces for the people.” It might not feel like a palace exactly when you visit one of the Wichita Public Library’s seven locations, but it is true that libraries are one of the few places in the modern world where people aren’t expected to pay to learn. Outside of the usual book checkouts, libraries provide a variety of resources for the community to capitalize on. Providing access to new literature and information without the financial burden is what the Wichita Public Library hopes to give to the community. All of the resources that the Wichita Libraries offer can be found on their online site. This includes group courses, collaboration rooms, newsletters, classes, and book discussions.
Source: KLC Journal
Pittsburg leader challenges building owners to revitalize downtown
“Anytime I drive by an empty store front I feel like it’s a missed opportunity for a business that could of been,” said Graphics Manager of Sign Brothers Josh Young. “Anytime there is a ran down store front it doesn’t look good on our down town. It always look better if all our store fronts are filled and beautified,” said Young. City leadership is also noticing the empty buildings. In the city commission meeting on April 25th, Mayor Ron Seglie said that while Broadway is looking good, there’s still work to be done. He holds the building owners responsible and wants to see something being done with those buildings. “We have 13 or 14 empty store fronts we would like to see businesses in those stores and I’m hoping somewhere down the road something like that will happen but some of them are well kept and some are not,” said Seglie.
Source: KOAM News
Overland Park considers dropping food inspections, leaving it to state
Overland Park’s unique food safety inspection regime may be on its way out. The city council’s Community Development Committee on Wednesday unanimously recommended ending city inspections of eating establishments because it duplicates the efforts of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Overland Park is the only city in Kansas that has its own food inspection program alongside the state’s.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Derby accepting home repair grant applications
In an effort to continue facilitating more home improvements in Derby, the city is currently taking applications for the 2023 Neighborhood Maintenance Grant (NMG) program. The program, which was retooled to increase utilization in 2022, seeks to help eligible homeowners with exterior home maintenance projects. Usage increased drastically in the first year of the new program as compared to the previous five years. During each annual grant cycle, a total of $25,000 is available to help homeowners with qualifying repair projects including roofs, siding, gutters, paint, doors, windows, masonry porches, exterior lighting, and repair of existing porches, fences, outbuildings, sidewalks, etc.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Grant money changing the game for one Kansas volunteer fire department
Many volunteer departments across the state are pinching pennies, forcing them to prioritize critical equipment over health and safety. “With a limited budget, you kind of have to make a judgment call of, some of the gear is good enough,” Fire chief for Cowley County Fire District 3 in Burden, Chris Cannon, said. “It’s not within the recommended guidelines, but it looks OK. So it was a huge challenge. We really couldn’t do it with a budget of dollars that we had.” Cannon says grant funding is essential to being able to operate effectively and safely. “It’s just very challenging because there’s so many needs and such few resources to meet that,” Cannon said. “The fire marshal grant is great for stretching our dollars and getting those things done.”
Source: KSN-TV
Valley Center woman has been driving school busses for 45 years and is still rolling
They see the sun come up as they pick up students and take them to school every morning. Then, pick up the students again and drop them off at home in the afternoon. In Valley Center, generations of students are familiar with a bus driver known as Miss Gail. … Every school day in Valley Center begins with 20 school buses transporting about a thousand students to USD 262 schools. “When I first started, it was a job, and I could take my children with me on the school bus. So, that was good. I raised all three of my children on a bus,” said veteran school bus driver Gail Johnson. After 45 years, Johnson is still doing what she loves: driving.
Source: KSN-TV
Forum shows community efforts on homelessness, mental health issues
Stories of success and life change provided reprieve from much of the conversation about homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues in Saline County during a public forum Wednesday. The stories were an almost necessary pause from some of the harrowing realities discussed among those who showed up to the forum. Not long after hearing statistics on homelessness, high recidivism rates, and a look at challenges county agencies see day-to-day, the stories left the crowd of about 50 musing.
Source: Salina Journal
Kanopolis Drive In opens for season
People looking for an experience in north central Kansas have another back after more than a year being away as the Kanopolis Drive In movie theater opens up this weekend for the 2023 season. The theater, located at 804 N. Kansas Ave. on the edge of Kanopolis, was hit like the rest of the area by the Dec. 15, 2021 windstorm, receiving damage to several parts of the property, including its 70 foot-wide screen, causing the theater to not open during the 2022 season.
Source: Salina Journal
Heartland Park owner may close racing facility after rejected tax offer to Shawnee County
Owner Chris Payne says he may consider closing Heartland Motorsports Park after Shawnee County rejected an offer he made to try to settle a property tax legal battle. Heartland Park hasn’t necessarily reached the end of the road, Payne said this past week. Still, Payne “must begin to make firm economic decisions to wind down the events at Heartland Park,” Payne’s attorney David Holstead told county counselor Jim Crowl in a letter sent Tuesday. Payne’s company, Shelby Development LLC, will now “proceed to mitigate its damages in the appropriate and practical manner that is necessary for any enterprise under such circumstances,” Holstead said in that letter, which Payne provided to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
Source: CJonline
Superman’s hometown, Smallville, takes over Hutchinson June 15-17
Hutchinson will become Smallville, Kansas, the home of Clark Kent, from June 15-17 to celebrate the community and togetherness as the 10th annual Smallville Festival takes place throughout Hutchinson. The city’s Third Thursday, Kansas State Fair, Reno County Museum, Cosmosphere and Strataca will partake in the three-day stretch of activities. On June 15, Smallville will be kicked off at Third Thursday in downtown Hutchinson from 6 to 9 p.m., including family-oriented games and food, plus superheroes.
Source: Hutch News
Twenty years after leaving Topeka, Menninger’s looks to build on mental health reputation
This week marks 98 years since a patient first stepped into an old farmhouse in Topeka, marking the beginning of one of the world’s most well-respected and influential leaders in modern mental health care. It was 1925 that C.F. Menninger and his sons, Karl and William Menninger, first began seeing patients in their clinic. The family of psychiatrists became renowned for their holistic approach to mental health, unheard of at the time. Thousands of patients from around the U.S. and world came to “tiny” Topeka throughout the 20th century to see the practice, and several of the world’s leading psychiatrists and mental health experts also received their start through the family.
Source: CJonline
Ballooning size of wind and solar projects draws local ire as they march closer to populated areas
County-by-county battles are raging as wind and solar projects balloon in size, edge closer to cities and encounter mounting pushback in communities from Niagara Falls to the Great Plains and beyond. Projects have slowed. Even in states with a long history of building renewables, developers don’t know if they can get local permits or how long it might take. In Kansas, wind power grew rapidly for two decades and supplies around 45% of the electricity generated in-state, ranking it third in the nation. But at least five counties in more-populous eastern Kansas have recently placed moratoriums or bans on new wind or solar projects, joining 18 others that already restricted wind development to preserve the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Kansas lagged behind nearly every state in large project construction and new clean power capacity last year, according to the American Clean Power Association, an industry group for wind, solar and battery storage.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Mission Gateway is upside down. Will the Johnson County project ever be finished?
The potential foreclosure on the Mission Gateway project poses perhaps the biggest threat the cursed Johnson County development has ever faced. It could leave the city of Mission without a finished project, but also cost developers, bankers, vendors and contractors millions. Several real estate experts tell The Star the development, despite sitting on one of the most valuable pieces of property in the area, is upside down, meaning the property is now worth less than what is owed. Last month, New York’s Metropolitan Commercial Bank filed a lawsuit in Johnson County Court seeking foreclosure of the property after it said developers missed several mortgage payments.
Source: Joco 913 News
Municipal Bond Trends for May 8, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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, Beth Warren or Henry Schmidt.