Kansas Municipal News
Municipal Bond Trends for July 1, 2024
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.
Cuts looming for city staff as Manhattan looks to increase its cash balance
Manhattan city commissioners are talking about laying off as many as 70 city employees as they consider cost-cutting measures to avert what they say is a potential budget crisis. City officials during Tuesday’s meeting weighed options to increase the general fund. The fund’s cash balance is expected to drop from $11 million to $6 million by the end of 2024. Officials have said they like to keep the cash reserve above $10 million. Commissioners have initially targeted a combination of staff reductions and tax increases. Personnel currently makes up around 70% of the general funds’ expenses. Commissioners are looking at cutting 35-70 staff, with limits of 36-32 hours a week for remaining staff. This is predicted to save between $1 million-$4 million a year. City staff also suggested that putting a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot to fund a proposed indoor aquatics project would free up money in the general fund. Another option is dipping into $4 million in city ARPA funds. The city also plans to halt replacing vehicles and equipment through the end of 2025. It may also halt capital improvements, filling vacancies and pay increases.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Fort Scott City Commission talks tax incentives for downtown buildings
Fort Scott City Commissioners on June 18 discussed Reinvestment Housing Incentive Districts. Bourbon County Regional Economic Development Director Robert Harrington said a RHID for the downtown area would fund “any upper-story living,” while the lower level must be commercial. The RHID would not pay for such items as appliances and furniture. A RHID is a program designed to aid developers in building housing within communities by assisting in the financing of public infrastructure improvements. RHID captures the incremental increase in property taxes created by a housing development project for up to 25 years. The revenue can be used for reimbursement for incurred costs or to pay debt service on bonds, according to www.kansascommerce.gov.
Source: Fort Scott Tribune
Political signs not allowed on right of way
It’s a sign of the season – political campaigning and the posting of campaign signs. The Kansas Department of Transportation reminds the public that all political campaign signs or billboards are prohibited from being placed on state highway right of way.
By law, all right of way on state highways is exclusively for public highway purposes. Only regulatory, guide signs and warning signs placed by KDOT are allowed on the 9,500-mile state highway system. KDOT has jurisdiction over all interstate, Kansas and U.S. routes.
When KDOT maintenance crews find political signs on state highway right of way, the signs will be removed immediately and without notice. All such signs will then be taken to the closest KDOT Subarea office. Political campaign signs not retrieved from the Subarea offices will be disposed of after the election.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Cities need citizen help in complying with KDHE regulations; How cities in Harvey County are meeting the requirements
All community and non-transient, non-community water systems must develop an inventory to identify the materials of service lines connected to the public water distribution system by Oct. 16, 2024, according to Jill Bronaugh, communications director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). She said that the inventory must include all service lines connected to the public water supply distribution system, regardless of ownership status to the exterior structure wall and must be made available for public review.
“The customer should voluntarily assist the water system in identifying line materials,” Bronaugh said. She said the state will compile the data and review it for completeness, then report the data to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Until the state receives Primacy from EPA, all enforcement of the rule will be conducted by the EPA. Local communities are asking residents to fill out voluntary surveys. The Harvey County Now asked cities what they were doing to meet the KDHE requirements. The City of Bentley contracted with WaterWise Enterprises, LLC, out of Oxford, Kansas, in January 2024 to manage surveys and compile information, according to City Administrator James T. Bryan. City Manager Ethan Reimer said that Halstead’s survey is based on an example survey that KDHE provided and includes questions both about the direct service line (the line running from the meter to the house) as well as the internal plumbing within the house/building. The City of Newton began its lead and copper rule process in February 2023 with a letter and plumbing materials survey mailed to its utility customers, according to Erin McDaniel, the City of Newton’s director of communications. She said they also made the survey available online. The City of North Newton issued a paper survey and included it in the monthly utility bill in November of 2023, according to City Administrator Kyle Fiedler. He said they then sent a second notice and a final notice to those accounts that did not return a survey. The deadline for the final notice is Monday, July 15. City Administrator Kyle Nordick said the City of Sedgwick is trying to collect the customer-side inventory information of the water distribution system through a survey they have mailed to residents twice. The survey is also available on the city’s website, cityofsedgwick.org, and at City Hall.
Source: Harvey County Now
Restrictive covenants can be released from county deeds
As of today, property owners in Johnson County can review their legal ownership documents to identify and release historic covenants that discriminated against race, religion and national origin. In April, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2562 into law, effective July 1. The law authorizes the release of discriminatory covenants from land records. Existing state and federal law already prohibited these restrictions as unlawful and unenforceable, yet the discriminatory wording remained as part of the official documents.
The new law provides an avenue for property owners to determine whether their land records contain discriminatory language. If the documents do, owners can record a Certificate of Release of Prohibited Covenants to formally acknowledge the unlawfulness of the covenants and release the property from those historic restrictions. It also requires homeowner associations to remove discriminatory restrictive covenants from their governing documents within 60 days after July 1, 2024.
Source: Johnson County Kansas |
New Shawnee traffic sculpture result of collaboration between rival high schools
A two-year art project brought two rival schools together for a common goal — to create and build a sculpture. The result of the collaboration between students at Mill Valley and De Soto High Schools, through USD 232’s Cedar Trails Exploration Center’s CAPS program, which provides career and technical education for students in the district, is the sculpture “Flight of Fluorescence.” The project has been a top-to-bottom student-driven work, from its inception now to its installation at a Shawnee traffic circle. “The kids got this cool, collaborative opportunity and (they’re) building friendships from what typically would have been rival high schools,” Tim Mispagel, the district’s CAPS administrator, said.
Source: Johnson County Post
Prairie Village poised to move forward with plan to get city to net zero emissions by 2050
The city of Prairie Village plans to develop a community-wide climate action plan aimed at zeroing out the city’s net carbon emissions by 2050. After embarking last year on a climate action plan focused on municipal operations with Indianapolis-based consultants Keramida, Prairie Village is now poised to expand the effort to businesses and residents. This comes three years after the city committed to the “Cities Race to Zero,” an international campaign with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At that time, Prairie Village pledged to reach the commitment’s goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Source: Johnson County Post
Company wants OK for 62-mile transmission line route in western Kansas
A company that wants to transmit solar and wind energy from Kansas to other places in the Midwest is asking Kansas regulators for permission regarding the route of 62 miles of transmission lines in western Kansas. Grain Belt LLC wants to site two 345-kilovolt transmission lines. One line will run from Meade to Dodge City, and the other will run from Bucklin to Dodge City. The counties affected are Ford, Meade, and Gray. The Kansas Corporation Commission already approved the Alternating Current (AC) Collector System in 2011 as part of the Grain Belt Express project. In 2013, the route of the Grain Belt Express line was approved.
Source: KSN-TV
Fire departments across Kansas challenged to attract young volunteers
Fire departments across Kansas are feeling the heat. They are dealing with the challenges of attracting volunteers to fill their staff. Jason Mundell has been a volunteer with the Mulvane Fire Department for roughly 30 years. He said volunteerism has changed over his time giving back to the community. He said they’re struggling to recruit younger people to lend a hand. Mundell has been with the Wichita Fire Department for more than 25 years but gives time to volunteer in his hometown, Mulvane, on his off days. He said it’s difficult for the small community to recruit young volunteers. “Seventy percent of our members are over 40 years old, so trying to get those younger kids, younger adults to show an interest in volunteering their time, is going to be the biggest challenge,” said Mundell. He said most young professionals who live in Mulvane do not work there, and as a bedroom community to Wichita, people are often unavailable to volunteer there. “Most jobs are out of town, so they are gone during the daytime, so it’s hard to get that daytime response from people because they’re out of town working,” said Mundell. Steve Hirsch, treasurer of the Kansas State Firefighters Association, said the KSFFA was awarded $1.3 million in grant funds last year to help recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. “We’re just kind of getting started now. That’s going to include some leadership training, it’s going to include training on recruitment and retention, it’s going to include some gear for people, physicals,” said Hirsch. It will be rolled out over four years. Hirsch hopes it will improve stations across Kansas.
Source: KSN-TV
New city manager highlights focal points in Topeka
Robert Perez is officially one week into his new job as Topeka city manager. Monday, 27 News sat down with Perez about what he looks forward to tackling in his first year on the job. Entering his second week on the job, Topeka City Manager Robert Perez is hitting the ground running in his new role. From finding a new police chief, to working on the homeless issue in the Capital city to the upcoming budget, Perez is getting input from the city on how they want things done. “Making sure that we have a sustainable budget for the coming years is going to be of great importance to me,” Perez said. “We are holding budget listening sessions that start next week, that go for the next several weeks, so we can hear from the community before we put the budget together.” When it comes to finding a new police chief for the Capital city, whether they be internal or external, Perez is casting a wider net with a national search to get the best of the best. “As part of that process, before we do anything,” Perez said, “I want to seek official feedback from the community and input from the community on the attributes that are desirable for the next police chief to have.” And homelessness. It’s been an ongoing problem in Topeka. Perez said the city can’t do it by itself. It needs the help from people right here in our community.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Barber County first responders do simulation training
First responders in Barber County held a training exercise on Friday with a school bus and truck carrying hazardous materials. The victims? Actors. The smoke? Non-toxic. “Our goal was to see how our protocols, whether we were EMS, fire, law enforcement, work and handle a mass casualty like this,” Anna Schurter, the director of Barber County EMS, said. Mike Loreg, the Barber County Emergency manager, said it was important to get on-the-job training rather than just working in a classroom. “In a classroom or training facility, you study books,” Loreg said. “It’s easy to write policy on a piece of paper, but when we come out here and test them, we find the gaps.” Most of the emergency services in rural Barber County are largely volunteer, so the simulation training offers an opportunity to work calls they don’t normally get. “We have the same problems, the same hazardous materials the big cities do,” Loreg said. “If we don’t practice these, there’s a lot of people that can get injured because we don’t have the resources everybody else does.”
Source: KSN-TV
How is Topeka addressing homelessness after SCOTUS ruling?
Homeless people across the country can now be penalized for sleeping outside, but the Supreme Court says it should be up to each local government. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) voted 6-3 Friday morning that it is constitutional to ban people from sleeping outside. 27 News spoke with Topeka’s City Attorney Amanda Stanley about what this means for Topeka. “The ability to have every tool in our toolbox is what the Supreme Court gave us,” Stanley said. “I think that’s really helpful when you look at such a hard problem. No one solution is going to fix it.” Earlier this year, Topeka began its homeless abatement process. Current city ordinances claim it’s unlawful to camp near public infrastructure. So far, crews cleared more than 200 tons of trash along the Kansas River and other public areas. “You have to think about the community as a whole,” Stanley said. “Which is why you need to try to get people in housing, but also in neighborhoods, kids need to be able to walk down the street and not deal with feces or other issues.”
Source: KSNT 27 News
City of Lawrence files case against landlord for refusal of housing vouchers
The City of Lawrence has filed what appears to be its first Douglas County District Court lawsuit against a local landlord for allegedly refusing a prospective tenant based solely on their use of housing vouchers. Sue Herynk and her husband Joe Herynk, of River City Homes Inc., are named as defendants in the case. Sue’s responses indicate that they are eager for another chance to contest the city’s ordinance banning source of income discrimination, which they call unconstitutional. The Lawrence City Commission in February 2023 approved an ordinance change that creates a protected class based on renters’ source of income, as well as their status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or stalking. It also disallows discrimination based on prospective tenants’ immigration status. The ordinance went into effect June 1, 2023. A Douglas County judge in May ruled against the group Landlords of Lawrence, which had sued the city over the ordinance. A complainant wrote in September 2023 that she had seen an ad for a unit in the 4700 block of Moundridge Court, according to documentation in the city’s lawsuit. The townhome was for rent at $1,400 per month, according to a Zillow listing. The complainant wrote that she called Sue Herynk, the property owner, who said the unit was available and just needed its carpets cleaned before new tenants could move in. “Up to this point the conversation had been positive. I then asked about payment of the rent, and explained that my payment would be in the form of a housing voucher (Section 8),” the complainant wrote. “Ms. Herynk stated that she would not accept my housing voucher, no matter the circumstances. She stated that a housing voucher would leave the landlord with uncovered liability in the case that the tenant were to abandon or damage the property. She rejected my request to be considered on the same basis as any other would be renter.”
Source: The Lawrence Times
Municipal Bond Trends for June 28, 2024
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.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 27, 2024
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.
Russell Awarded a Grant for Street Lighting Upgrades
The City of Russell is excited to announce that it has been awarded $122,783 in grant funds through the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to upgrade 311 streetlights to more energy-efficient technologies. The KCC received a $1.9 million Block Grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Under this program, the KCC supports projects that replace traffic signals and street lighting with energy-efficient technology, with a particular focus on rural communities in Kansas.
Source: City of Russell
Supreme Court Expands Cities’ Power to Remove Homeless Camps
The Supreme Court loosened the restraints on city officials confronting homeless encampments, overturning a lower court that found it unconstitutional to penalize people for sleeping in public when they have nowhere else to stay. Writing for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments, which a lower court invoked to strike down the city’s ordinance, had no role to play in limiting government responses to homelessness.
Source: WSJ.com: World News and U.S. Supreme Court
Construction begins on expansion of Wichita homeless facility
A groundbreaking ceremony was held to begin construction of a major expansion for the Union Rescue Mission in north Wichita.
Construction will get started on July 8th to create several enhancements to the facility at 2800 North Hillside. The Union Rescue Mission raised over $2 million through its Dreams Rebuilt capital campaign that began in December, 2020. Kurt Yowell, chairman of the URM board of directors, said in a press release, “These renovations will not only freshen a well-worn facility, they will also provide a Chapel, additional classrooms, an updated emergency overnight shelter facility, improved security and safety features, and a degree of privacy and dignity for the men in programs.” The project is expected to be completed in March, 2025. The Mission also plans to raise an additional $110,000 to upgrade security in the parking lot behind the facility.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
New city administrator hired in Hiawatha
Brad Scott–who has served the City of Hiawatha as Public Works Director and as Interim City Administrator–was officially hired as the new City Administrator at the end of Monday’s City Commission meeting. All city commissioner members voted in favor of Scott taking the position.
Source: City Government | hiawathaworldonline.com