Kansas Municipal News
Axe on Kansas Grocery Tax likely to keep shoppers’ dollars in Atchison
Elimination of the 6.5 percent sales tax on groceries is currently pending in the Kansas Legislature and is an issue that Governor Laura Kelly is hopeful lawmakers will hear all about from constituents throughout the spring break. Kelly said she is hopeful the elimination of the 6.5 percent grocery tax will become effective July 1. “People need it now,” Kelly said in an interview with the Atchison Globe and added Kansas consumers need the relief as inflationary cost of living expenses are on the rise.
Source: Atchison Globe Now
Wichita City Council approves grants for small business, workforce development programs
Wichita City Council members have approved a first round of grants for programs to help small businesses and promote workforce development. The city received $72 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, and $10 million of that will be dedicated to workforce and business efforts. The council approved a total of $6.3 million in grants to 14 organizations. WSU Tech is getting about 60 percent of the funding from the first round, for partnerships with the Wichita school district and other agencies to train workers for health care and manufacturing jobs.
Source: Country 101.3 KFDI
Recycling alive in Newton but won’t be cheap
Continued curbside recycling service in Newton now hinges on 300 households being willing to pay $151 a year to continue having service. The City of Newton revealed private recycling bids for service at its Tuesday meeting. Nisly Brothers out of Hutchinson was the only company to respond to a bid request for service from the city and submitted two options. The first option would cost $8.80 a month to provide and bill recycling to all city customers. The other bid cost $12.63 per month to be assessed to only recycling customers. Option two would have Nisly handle the billing. The bid is tied to a five-year contract, and costs are also tied to inflation rates of recycling processing charges. It also requires a minimum of 300 customers to be initiated.
Source: Harvey County Now
Halstead Fire gets hoses checked
The Halstead Fire Department completed the annual testing of all its hoses on Monday. In the past, the department has done hose testing during a training night, but this year for the first time, they hired a company to do it for them. Division Chief Doug Hoffman credited Burrton Fire Department with doing the research to find FireCatt, a professional hose testing company out of Michigan. Halstead piggybacked while they were in the area. “We looked at it and considered the labor-saving aspect,” Hoffman said. “They do it in one day and they’re done.” Burrton was going to have their hoses tested this Thursday.
Source: Harvey County Now
Wichita renters feeling the effects of inflation
Inflation is paving a tough road ahead for renters in Wichita. Director for the Center for Economic Development Business Research at Wichita State University Jeremy Hill said, he’s been following rent rates in Wichita since the start of this year. He said since January 2020, rent in the Midwest has outpaced the average rent across the United States. “Instead of the nation growing a lot faster in rental prices, it is the Wichita market going a lot faster than the nation,” Hill said. Demetri Dehncke-White chose to move when facing a rise in rent. The struggle to find a new place to rent was hard, and experts said Dehncke-White is not alone. “Nothing was really set in stone until they told us that, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna have to raise your rent to what the current market rate was.’” Dehncke-White said.
Source: KAKE – News
UG opens door for Homefield’s first $130M in STAR bonds, setting stage for 2022 groundbreakings
Officials in Kansas City, Kansas, have signed off on multiple bond measures necessary for developers of the $648.1 million Homefield project to hit approved deadlines coming at the end of the year. Commissioners with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas recently greenlit up to $160 million in sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds for the roughly 400-acre project near 94th Street and State Avenue. Of that total, Homefield LLC can unlock as much as $130 million in public benefit for its multi-sport Homefield Building, Perfect Game youth baseball complex and related infrastructure. The developer must first attract $195 million in private capital, or a 40-60% ratio in public-to-private funds, under a revised agreement approved with the UG in late January. The UG has restricted $20 million of those STAR bond proceeds, with plans to release $5 million to the developer once its privately funded $85 million, 250-room Margaritaville hotel has broken ground, and the $15 million balance after it opens.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal – The Business Journals
Prairie Village considers $1M for park upgrades over next 5 years — Here’s when and where
The Prairie Village City Council will soon consider approval of a more than $1 million capital improvement program plan for city parks, but the proposal does not include funding for planned work at Harmon Park, the city’s most prominent park. The big picture: The parks and recreation committee wanted to tackle the city’s entire park system with the next five-year capital improvement plan. Otherwise, some city parks wouldn’t see improvements for more than five years, Councilmember Lauren Wolf said.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Fort Scott welding class helps Louisburg expand Hometown Heroes program
Dee Young raised a welding helmet to examine her handiwork on a Monday night in early March. Young and several other members of Fort Scott Community College’s night welding class on the Paola campus are playing a key role in the expansion of the Hometown Heroes banner program in Louisburg. The program began last fall and quickly sold all 44 banner spots on light poles in downtown Louisburg, organizers said. Because of the program’s popularity more banners are being added for 2022. To accommodate the overflow, most of those banners will be displayed on flag holders in the green space between City Hall and Fox Hall during the weeks surrounding Memorial Day and Veterans Day through May 2023, organizers said.
Source: The Miami County Republic
Manhattan OK with city employee pay increases recommended in salary study
The Manhattan city government appears ready to move forward with raises for its employees after commissioners on Tuesday gave their informal OK. Based on a consultant’s recommendation, city administrators support giving raises to 77% of city government employees, which would cost $2.1 million in additional annual spending. The city hired Allen Gibbs Houlik (AGH) of Wichita to conduct a total rewards study to examine compensation for Manhattan government employees compared to other private and government agencies in the area. Based on a new classification system, market data, employee tenure and job performance, AGH said 23% of employees would have no adjustment, 24% would receive up to a 10% pay increase, 28% would get a 11% to 20% raise, and 12% each would receive a 21% to 25% increase or a 25% or greater increase.
Source: themercury.com
Fed’s Waller sees likelihood of multiple half-point interest rate hikes ahead
Getting inflation under control will require raising interest rates at a faster pace than normal even though the pace of price increases probably has peaked, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Wednesday. That means the central bank likely will hike short-term rates by half a percentage point, or 50 basis points, at its meeting in May, and possibly follow it up with similar moves in the next several months, Waller told CNBC. The Fed normally increases in 25-basis-point increments. “I think the data has come in exactly to support that step of policy action if the committee chooses to do so, and gives us the basis for doing it,” he said during a live “Closing Bell” interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen. “I prefer a front-loading approach, so a 50-basis-point hike in May would be consistent with that, and possibly more in June and July.”
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Wichita Eagle Commentary: When Wichita stadium STAR bonds fall short, guess who pays
Sales Tax and Revenue Bonds — better known as STAR Bonds — are public debt issued by the city, to get public money to pay for private development projects. That bond debt has to be paid back. The loan is supposed to be paid off using sales tax money generated by the new development. But things go wrong. And when they do, it’s taxpayers who end up paying. STAR bond debt is tricky, because you can’t easily find the numbers. Let’s look at the new Wichita baseball stadium and its $42 million in STAR Bonds.
Source: Wichita Eagle
USDA Invests $2.55 Million to Support Rural Health Care Providers in Kansas
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Acting State Director for Rural Development Kansas Dan Fischer today announced the awarding of $2.55 million in Emergency Rural Health Care Grants, benefitting 10 communities in rural Kansas. “The USDA mobilized our staff and resources to respond rapidly to the COVID-19 needs of rural health care providers in Kansas,” Fischer said. “USDA is helping to insure rural health care providers stay strong during the pandemic and will remain strong in the future.” The grants the USDA is awarding will help rural hospitals and health care providers implement telehealth and nutrition assistance programs, increase staffing to administer COVID-19 vaccines and testing, build or renovate facilities and purchase medical supplies.
The Kansas communities receiving grant funding are:
- Cheyenne County Public Building Commission will receive a $54,200 grant to use toward the purchase and installation of flooring and equipment to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Saint Francis skilled nursing facility. The facility’s flooring and dining furniture cannot withstand the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s new required cleaning and sanitizing standards. The project will replace over 9,000 square feet of carpet and laminate flooring and purchase new dining room tables and chairs.
- Cloud County Health Center will receive a $369,600 grant to use toward the purchase of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. An on-site MRI service will provide faster diagnosis and treatment, improving the quality of care.
- Winfield Rest Haven Inc. will receive a $307,600 grant to use toward reimbursing Winfield Rest Haven Inc. for lost revenues suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Winfield Rest Haven, a skilled nursing home, is open to all residents regardless of their ability to pay. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced operating revenue to the facility.
- Atchison Hospital Association will receive a $414,800 grant to use toward reimbursing Atchison Hospital Association, Amberwell Health, for lost revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This facility provides in-patient, out-patient, emergency care and physician services to patients in the county and surrounding areas.
- Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center will receive a $434,300 grant to use toward the purchase and installation of telehealth infrastructure and upgrade health information systems to Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center. The critical access hospital has faced unprecedented challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Sumner County Hospital District #1 will receive a $91,100 grant to use toward the purchase of equipment and supplies to replace what was used during the COVID-19 pandemic, increase telehealth capabilities, purchase additional equipment to continue serving COVID-19 patients and provide vaccinations and testing at this Caldwell This project will allow the only hospital in Sumner County to continue providing health care protection and treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic and increase telehealth services.
- Prairie Sunset Home Inc. will receive a $74,600 grant to use toward reimbursing Prairie Sunset Home Inc., a skilled nursing home, for lost revenues from 2020 and 2021. The investment will also purchase supplies and equipment and improve information technology and telehealth capabilities to help the facility in its continued fight over COVID-19. This facility provides services to residents in a very small community and parts of Reno County.
- Coffeyville Regional Medical Center Inc. will receive a $657,700 grant to use toward purchasing medical equipment, medical vehicles and a pharmacy storage system to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and support the hospital’s COVID-19 response in rural southeast Kansas.
- Frankfort Community Care Home will receive a $69,600 grant to use toward the reimbursement of lost revenues that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Sherman County Public Building Commission will receive an $83,100 grant to use toward purchasing equipment to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and improve the quality of life for their residents. The purchase includes a digital screening system, air filtration machines and ceiling hoists for Topside Manor, the only facility of its kind in Goodland.
BASE Grant Awards Announced
With hundreds of applicants, BASE Grants were awarded to 35 entities. See the list here.
If you would like to discuss other funding options for your projects (other grants, federal funding, bonds, loans, etc.), please reach out to us at Ranson Financial for further information.
Playground turns into ninja course
This spring, the dream of a new “ninja warrior” style obstacle course became a reality. Five years ago, the sixth-grade student government organization at Inman Elementary School proposed getting playground equipment similar to the television show “American Ninja Warrior.” Fundraisers, such as the school’s field day and color run, were held for years to raise the funds to purchase the equipment. After $84,000 was collected, the school started making plans.
Source: Hutch News
Municipal Bond Trends for April 12, 2022
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.
New pickleball courts coming to Pittsburg this summer
Pickleball, a fun combination of badminton, ping-pong, and tennis, has made its way to Pittsburg. Given its newfound popularity, the west tennis courts by Four Oaks Golf Course will be made into six new Pickleball Courts. Toby Book, Pittsburg Parks and Recreation Director, is very excited for the new addition. “There’s a strong base of players here in Pittsburg,” he says, highlighting how in demand these courts are. The project will start, given acceptable weather, the first week of May and should take about a week to complete. A generous donation from Kansas Crossing Casino for $10,000 has helped to expedite the process. “At Kansas Crossing Casino we like to work hard and play hard,” says Kansas Crossing Casino General Manager Jeff McKain. “We believe that the pickleball courts will be a great addition to the community and are excited by the opportunity to help bring this to the Pittsburg area.”
Source: City of Pittsburg
Riley, Pottawatomie County fire officials remain vigilant as fire danger continues
A new fire affecting mostly public property near Tuttle Creek Lake gave Riley County firefighters some challenges Monday. This one was in the area of Baldwin Park Road, north of University Park. Riley County issued a new disaster declaration to request assistance. No structures were threatened and no evacuations were said to be necessary as of late Monday evening. Crews were conducting back burning to help reduce available fuels. At Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting, Emergency Management Director Jennifer Merrow noted the lake fire and Shannon Creek fires were both well contained. No structural damage was seen. “There was some smoldering, there was back burns done to prevent further spread, so overall it was contained very well. Firefighters in the county did one heck of a job over the weekend and all of last week. They’re exhausted,” she said.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Eureka, Newton, Topeka and Valley Center join Kansas downtown revitalization program
Eureka, Newton, Topeka and Valley Center are joining a state-run program focused on the revitalization and preservation of downtown districts across Kansas. Initially launched in 1985, the Kansas Mainstreet Program has assisted dozens of communities to maintain predominantly rural downtown areas. Since 2019, the program has added 10 communities, bringing the total to 32. Nearly $650,000 in grant dollars have gone toward building rehabilitation, entrepreneurial development, upper-floor housing and more. “When our main street businesses succeed, our economy succeeds,” said Gov. Laura Kelly. “The program’s expansion is further proof of its success, and I’m pleased to welcome these four additional communities.”
Source: Kansas Reflector
Kelly pulls plug on electric delivery devices Amazon sought to operate on Kansas sidewalks
Gov. Laura Kelly threw up a roadblock to Amazon’s request for legal authority to operate fully electric, autonomous delivery devices in Kansas. The authorization bill vetoed by the governor was approved 22-17 in the Senate and 75-47 in the House, but neither margin would suggest there was support to override the governor’s veto. The Legislature could return to Senate Bill 161 when it reconvenes April 25 to close out the 2022 legislative session. She also rejected Senate Bill 493, which Republican legislators sought to thwart action by cities or counties to ban stores from using plastic packaging that often wound up littering the ground. This bill didn’t receive two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate to indicate a veto override was certain. Kelly, a Democrat seeking re-election in November, said she wasn’t satisfied with safety precautions in the bill guiding operation of large robotic devices on residential sidewalks.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Gov. Kelly vetoes local bans on plastic bags, straws
Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes a bill that would have prevented cities and counties from banning, limiting or even taxing plastic bags, straws and food containers. Kelly rejected the measure Monday after previously telling reports that she was a “major local-control advocate.” The Senate approved the measure first in February, but its initial version did not explicitly cover plastic straws. The House made sure it did before passing the measure. The measure was backed by groups representing small business owners, restaurant operators and plastic bag manufacturers. Business owners argued that complying with a patchwork of local rules would increase their costs.
Source: KOAMKOAM