Kansas Municipal News
Municipal Bond Trends for March 14, 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.
Missouri and Kansas lawmakers want to limit who can buy farmland
Tense relations between China and the U.S. are trickling down into agriculture and more scrutiny into who owns farmland. It became a hot topic after the U.S. Air Force determined that a proposed Chinese-owned corn mill in North Dakota would be a significant national security threat. Now there are proposals restricting foreign ownership of farmland making their way through Congress and many state legislatures, including Missouri and Kansas.
Source: KCUR News
Chick-fil-A plans new $31M distribution center in Johnson County, opening next year
Chick-fil-A Inc. is planning a new $31 million distribution center in Olathe. Chick-fil-A Supply, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Atlanta-based company, will be at the Lone Elm Commerce Center off 167th Street, and and will service Chick-fil-A restaurants in the region. “The Kansas City area is a prime location to invest in our business, create jobs, and grow our supply chain operation,” Josh Grote, executive director of Chick-fil-A Supply, said in a statement. “The region has a deep pool of skilled talent that we know will excel in serving the franchise Operators, licensees and team members delivering an authentic Chick-fil-A experience at each of our locations.”
Source: KC Star
Saline County landfill fires caused by ‘few dozen’ batteries
Officials have determined the cause of several small landfill fires that popped up at the Salina Municipal Landfill on Monday. A news release from Salina Public Works says the fires were caused as a “direct result of a few dozen Lithium, Ni-Cad and alkaline batteries” that were disposed of in one load at the landfill. The release says Lithium batteries have a tendency to start fires when they are impacted by the machinery at the landfill or in the sanitation trucks as they are being hauled.
Source: KSN-TV
Meet the new Paola Rec Director
Wesley Joy is the first director of the recently formed Paola Recreation Commission. Joy, who previously served as the sports and special services director for the Winfield Recreation Commission in Winfield, Kan., was introduced during a recent Paola City Council meeting and again during the State of the City Breakfast at the Paola Country Club. Joy said he is originally from Burlington, Kan., and is familiar with the Miami County area. Before his recent stint in Winfield, Joy said he worked in the parks and recreation field in Colorado.
Source: Local News | republic-online.com
City of Topeka awarded $90,000 to help people get internet access
A grant that will be awarded to Topeka aims to help spread awareness and increase participation in a program that helps households get better internet access. City of Topeka spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker reports that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will award Topeka with a grant to boost participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). This program provides qualifying households with a discount on broadband and a one-time discount on connected devices. Those who qualify are eligible for a discount of up to $30 a month on internet service and up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating providers.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Leawood talks next steps for ‘Purple Twist’ sculpture
Leawood is considering whether to make the temporary purple sculpture near Leawood City Hall a permanent fixture. The Leawood Arts Council earlier this month discussed the next possible steps for “Purple Twist,” the city’s current Art on Loan piece. Through the Art on Loan program, an artist gets to temporarily display a personal art piece just west of city hall after undergoing a selected process by the city.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Lawmakers urged to retain local sales tax on groceries; Senate president proposes plan for filling gap
They came with stark choices. Cut police. Cut fire. Cut roads. Cut employee benefits. Or raise taxes. Local government officials presented lawmakers with those untenable options as they implored them Monday to keep local sales taxes on groceries. The House tax committee on Monday began debating a that was already passed in the Senate that eliminated state and local sales tax on groceries by next year. As the bill originally came out of a Senate committee, it would have only exempted state and local sales taxes on healthy food products.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
Cities criticize bill limiting power to regulate sale of good, services
Cities and counties turned out in force to fight a bill stopping them from regulating any consumer products and services allowed under state law, saying it would keep them from limiting fireworks, tobacco, massage therapists and land use. They urged the House commerce committee Monday to reject a bill pushed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce that was introduced after Wichita officials considered – but later dopped – a ban on retailers from selling dogs and cats.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
Southwest Kansas missing out on university system
We have often wondered why there is no state college in southwest Kansas, since there is one in every other quadrant of the state. Of course, the locations of our state universities (hardly anyone goes to a “college” anymore) were not according to any plan. Their genesis depended as much on local support and effort as anything. The story begins in 1863 when the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science formed in Manhattan as the nation’s first land-grant college. The University of Kansas came along three years later, and the state was set to grow two great universities. Both would be served by the state’s first rail line and near the population centers of the state’s northeast.
Source: The Iola Register
Hutchinson health educator testifies on fentanyl strips
As the amount of fentanyl deaths continue to increase, Kansas lawmakers are introducing a bill that would make synthetic opioid testing strips legal. Last week, the substance misuse health educator for Reno County, Seth Dewey, gave testimony before the Kansas Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee with regards to Bill 2390. The House passed the bill a few weeks ago. Drug overdose deaths in Kansas have increased throughout the last decade, a September 2022 Kansas Department of Health and Environment report stated. … Kansas House Bill 2390 would decriminalize testing strips for fentanyl, ketamine, flunitrazepam and gamma hydroxybutyric acid, sometimes known as the date rape drug. The bill would also establish a Kansas Overdose Fatality Review Board.
Source: Hutch News
Colorado city looks to Kansas for first female manager
The Florence City Council voted to offer a contract to hire its first female city manager in recent history. In a Special Meeting, the council voted to offer a contract to Amy Nasta. Nasta’s job offer comes after the city spent more than 18 months without permanent leadership. … Nasta currently serves as the Deputy City Administrator in Gardner, Kansas.
Source: KRDO
Atlanta firefighters to hold chicken and noodles dinner
The Atlanta Volunteer Fire Department and women’s auxiliary will hold its 20-something annual homemade chicken and noodle dinner with vegetables, salads and desserts March 25 at the Atlanta Community Building. The firefighters will begin serving at 5 p.m. … This is a fundraiser to benefit the fire department, and free donations will be appreciated with the money received going to various current and future projects.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
Goose reduction efforts working at Derby park
For several years, Derby has dealt with issues of invasive geese – particularly on the east side of town, near High Park and Rock River Rapids. According to an annual report from Director of Public Works Robert Mendoza, those remediation efforts are working, as evidenced by the decreasing numbers seen in the city’s annual goose roundup efforts in 2022. While McConnell Air Force Base used to assist Derby through its water fowl harassment program, the city now partners with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Fish and Wildlife Service to help manage the geese at high park through the latter’s capture program.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Reno County taking action after years of residents having high nitrate levels in water
Reno County is working to find a new water source for some residents after another test showed high nitrate levels in Rural Water District 101, the district that serves the Yoder area. Water collected early last week had a nitrate level of 10.5 mg/L, which exceeds the Kansas and federal (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 mg/L for public water supply systems. The County says nitrates have increased due to people using inorganic fertilizers and because of animal manure in agricultural areas.
Source: KSN-TV
These are the incentives Integra secured from Bel Aire, Sedgwick County
Local governments agreed last week to support the Wichita-based Integra Technologies and its plans to build a nearly $2-billion semiconductor facility in Bel Aire by passing a series of incentives, as well as pledging support necessary for the company to go after federal funding. It marks the “beginning of a very long partnership,” Integra president and CEO Brett Robinson said during a March 7 Bel Aire City Council meeting. Integra announced last month plans to build a 1 million square-foot production facility on a 100-acre site at the southeast corner of K-254 and Rock Road. The project is expected to create 2,500 jobs in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Cities’ Credit Ratings Are at Risk Because There Aren’t Enough Accountants
Municipalities across the US are at risk of having their credit ratings downgraded or withdrawn by S&P Global Ratings because staffing shortages have delayed financial disclosure documents. S&P has placed 149 long-term, underlying and program ratings on a negative credit watch this year because the ratings company hasn’t received 2021 financial statements from the issuers. That’s the most since at least 2018, and materially higher than the prior five-year average of 95 such moves, according to S&P data. “If we don’t have the financials, then bondholders don’t have the financials,” Jaime Blansit, a rating associate at S&P, said in an interview. “We don’t want financial deterioration happening without our knowledge and updating our rating accordingly. Without financials we don’t know if the rating is accurate or not.”
Source: Bloomberg
Fed’s Tightening Plans Collide With SVB Fallout
The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank give Federal Reserve policy makers two good reasons to hold off on raising rates when they meet next week. But the latest run of economic data can only serve to remind them why, until last week anyway, they planned to keep raising rates. Investors’ expectations for the Fed have been whipsawing this year. Early on there were hopes that cooler inflation would lead the Fed to raise its range on overnight rates by a final quarter point at its March meeting, and then go on hold. A monster January employment report and unexpectedly strong inflation reports changed that. Last Wednesday, on the back of some hawkish-sounding testimony from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, interest-rate futures put the chances of a half-point increase at the March meeting, rather than a quarter-point one, at nearly 80%.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets
Banks got hammered by SVB’s collapse. But the Fed might still raise rates
A joint guarantee by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation wasn’t enough to stop the bank rout. Regional banks were hammered by the second- and third-largest bank collapses in U.S. history. … Despite the turmoil in the banks, markets and analysts expect the Fed to go through with rate hikes. If the Fed pauses, it would “invite markets and the public to assume that the Fed’s inflation fighting resolve is only in place up to the point when there is any bumpiness in financial markets or the real economy,” explained Citigroup economist Andrew Hollenhorst.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Kansas sales tax cut on food would cost local governments $180M. Here’s what might happen.
If a Kansas Senate plan to exempt food from state and local sales taxes becomes law, local governments could be facing a collective $180 million shortfall, leaving little option but to raise property taxes if the state doesn’t compensate them. Senators passed the bill last month knowing that local governments would lose what was then an unknown amount of revenue, but promised to follow up with a plan to make them whole. Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, did so on Thursday, rolling out a plan that would put a one-time payment of $220 million into a fund that local governments could apply for, with some strings attached. … While sales tax revenue statistics are readily available, the data does not show how much of the money comes from food. In its own fiscal calculations, the Kansas Department of Revenue has assumed that 15% of the tax collections come from food sales, which officials said is based on KDOR and industry data as well as experiences in other states. Based on last year’s sales tax revenue of $1.2 billion to cities and counties, 15% would mean local governments would collectively lose about $180 million.
Source: CJonline