Kansas Municipal News
Emporia sets aside $750,000 for staff raises in 2022
Emporia city staff will receive salary increases in 2022, but how much those raises will be and how they will be allocated remain undecided. The topic of city staff wages again came up during the city commission’s Wednesday morning study session as it discussed its 2022 budget. Increasing salaries has been a pressing issue as the commission has worked on its 2022 budget, with commissioners and city staff acknowledging that in the past several years wage adjustments haven’t occurred as often as necessary to keep pay rates competitive with those offered by other communities. In previous sessions, the commission had discussed bumping up the wage scale 12% — with no one’s actual salary being raised except for those on the low end of the old wage scale to bring their salaries within the new wage scale — as well as providing a $1 per hour raise across the board.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Kansas schools prioritize mental health for pandemic aid
Education officials overseeing more than $1.1 billion in federal pandemic aid for Kansas schools say districts are spending much of the money to meet the mental health needs of students and staff. Some Kansas districts are hiring additional counselors and social workers, while others are working with community mental health centers to provide services during school hours so students and staff don’t have to leave the campus, said Tate Toedman, assistant director of special education at the Kansas Department of Education who works with districts on relief fund expenditures. Another widespread practice is hiring “intervention specialists” who can work one-on-one or in small groups to fill in learning gaps that have become apparent following months of remote learning, he said. It reduces stress on the teacher by getting those students ready for the core curriculum.
Source: KAKE – News
Kansas ranking counties on COVID status
Kansas public health officials are issuing county COVID-19 rankings intended to help local leaders stop the spread of the coronavirus in their communities. Marci Nielsen, the governor’s chief adviser for COVID-19 coordination, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that local officials should use the ranking to work together in response to the pandemic. “You would want to take this information about your county and figure out who do I need to partner with, because … this isn’t the responsibility solely of local public health, or solely of doctors in in the community or solely of the county commissioners,” Nielsen said.
Source: Salina Journal.
Municipal Bond Trends for August 25, 2021
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.
Sedgwick city council grapples with how to spend excess funds
The City of Sedgwick is between administrators and has a looming budget deadline, so they’ve hired Kristine Polian, former Assistant City Administrator for Finance and Administration at Valley Center as a consultant to provide insight and direction for the budgeting process. Last week, Polian told the council during their monthly work session that what she sees in their financial statements is pretty impressive considering where the city was a few years ago. She presented four budget recommendations for the council to consider. First, establish minimum fund balances for the general fund (25% of fund expenditures), water/sewer (25% of fund expenditures), refuse (10% of fund expenditures), employee benefits (15% of fund expenditures), and bond & Interest (2.5% of fund expenditures).
Source: Harvey County Now
South Kansas designated defense manufacturing community
The Department of Defense has designated South Kansas as a defense manufacturing community, making the region eligible for $5 million through a community support program. The initiative is led by Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). As one of 11 U.S. defense manufacturing communities, South Kansas will strengthen the national security innovation base by expanding ultra-high and high-temperature material characterizations, capabilities, process tools, sustainment planning, technical workforce, and engineering competencies to enhance the defense industrial base capabilities and accelerated weapon system prototype development.
Source: Derby Informer | Area
Sedgwick County officially denotes support for Amtrak expansion
In conjunction with the Amtrak Connects US Plan released earlier in 2021, the Sedgwick County Commission officially approved a resolution supporting an extension of Amtrak services from Oklahoma City to Newton – through Wichita – at its Aug. 18 meeting. Amtrak’s plan to expand transportation infrastructure over the next 15 years includes a goal of adding 160 communities to the national passenger rail network – with Wichita (and Arkansas City) among those as part of the proposed Heartland Flyer connection north from Oklahoma City. “Our effort is to make sure that we’re in the top projects on their list, meaning top five or 10, so they can get started right away on this,” said commission chair Pete Meitzner. “I think it’s just important that Amtrak keeps hearing from our region because there will be a lot of competing projects in these 160 projects. Ours is an easy one to do. We’re not going over mountains, tunnels or rivers and the tracks are already there; they just need to be improved.”
Source: Derby Informer | Area
Sedgwick County approves $2,500 signing bonus for EMS paramedics amid staffing crisis
Sedgwick County commissioners approved $2,500 sign-on bonuses for paramedics Wednesday, the latest move in a massive overhaul of the county’s Emergency Medical Services division following a Wichita Eagle investigation into the troubled department. Dr. John Gallagher, former EMS director, and Dr. Carolina Pereira, assistant medical director, resigned last month after a flood of complaints by street-level EMS workers, who said the two leaders were driving the once nationally renowned department into the ground, chasing away experienced paramedics and putting lives at risk.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Property tax sales can take as long as 5 years
Marion County property owners can get as many as five years behind before their property is seized and sold for back taxes. Some owners have learned to game the system by paying one year, which pushes back the process. State law requires delinquent property to be put on the tax sale list when owners become three years delinquent. Once that happens, however, it can take two more years to bring the tax sale to fruition, treasurer Jeannine Bateman said.
Source: Marion County RECORD
KDOT’s cost share program applications being accepted
The KDOT Cost Share Program provides financial assistance to local entities for transportation projects that improve safety, support job retention and growth, improve access or mobility, relieve congestion and help areas across the state improve the transportation system. The Cost Share program is one of KDOT’s most flexible funding opportunities for communities, allowing communities to apply for assistance with a wide range of highway, local road, bridge, rail, airport, bicycle, pedestrian and public transit projects – as long as they can provide at least a 15 percent local cash match. KDOT funds are used exclusively to match construction costs for these projects. The Cost Share Program application will be available only on the KDOT website, beginning Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. All 2021 KDOT Cost Share Program applications must be completed through the online application available at http://www.ksdot.org/CostShare/CostShareProgram.asp by Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.
Armed guards hired for court security
County commissioners unanimously agreed Monday to pay an Abilene-based firm about $49,920.00 for a year to provide guards at the courthouse. S.D. Security guards will work a minimum of 90 hours a month, primarily at district court but also in other portions of the courthouse, at $40 an hour starting Oct. 1. The expense will be paid from the county general fund.
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
Johnson County considers joining plan to zero out KC metro’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
An ambitious climate action plan intended to get the Kansas City area to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is making its way through local governments, including the Johnson County Commission. Commissioners are due to look at the Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan at its meeting Thursday, Sept. 2. The plan — the product of two years of work spearheaded by the Mid-America Regional Council and Climate Action KC — has been making the rounds of different metro governments and civic groups with an increasing sense of urgency among its purveyors.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Roeland Park becomes 2nd JoCo city to require masks in indoor public spaces
Roeland Park is now the second Johnson County city with a city wide mask mandate, following Prairie Village, which instituted a similar measure that took effect Tuesday. The Roeland Park City Council unanimously approved a mask resolution at its Monday night meeting, effective Tuesday, Aug. 24, and currently set to expire Oct. 19. The order requires masks for all people indoors in public places or in crowded outdoor public places, with some exceptions. The city started complying last summer with Gov. Laura Kelly’s mask mandate, which took effect July 3, 2020.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Mission mail-in election asks residents to approve sales tax increase to fund road repairs — when and how to vote
Mission residents will soon have the chance to decide whether more sales tax money should go towards maintaining the city’s streets. The issue before voters: The city will hold a mail-in election in September asking voters whether to approve a slight increase in the city’s sales tax from one-quarter cent to three-eighths cent. The added revenue would be dedicated to repairing and improving road infrastructure in town. The city says this increase would put an estimated $950,000 more toward annual street maintenance.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Talk is heating up on a 3,000-acre solar panel farm along the Douglas-Johnson County line; it would power 40,000 homes
There really might be a 3,000-acre solar panel farm — the largest in the state — developing along the eastern edge of Douglas County in the near future. … Those are exactly the types of discussions that the planning commissions in both Douglas and Johnson counties have been having over the last several months, and it is clear that those discussions are being driven by the desire of a Florida-based energy company to build a large solar farm that would straddle parts of the border between Douglas and Johnson counties. Officials with NextEra Energy are actively planning for a project that would be several miles east of Baldwin City and would stretch from about North 700 Road to North 300 Road in Douglas County, according to a document submitted to the Johnson County Planning Commission.
Source: LJWorld.com.
Salina ordinance for emergencies heads to court, ballots
A petition asking for a new Salina city ordinance will move forward in two ways, at the ballot box and to court. The ordinance would limit the Salina City Commission in its ability to make decisions during declared state and county emergencies. The commission voted on two decisions related to the ordinance during its meeting Monday, one was to take the ordinance to a court for a judgement on its validity. Also during the meeting, the commission voted to send the ordinance to the Nov. 3 ballot as a referendum.
Source: Salina Journal
Kansas can enforce COVID-inspired limits on officials’ power
People who oppose mask requirements or restrictions on public gatherings imposed by Kansas counties can challenge them in court and obtain a ruling within 10 days — at least for now — because of a decision Tuesday by the state’s highest court. The Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling could discourage counties from imposing mask mandates to deal with the two-month surge in COVID-19 cases tied to the more contagious delta variant. Most local school boards aren’t directly affected but could hesitate to act as well. The court’s ruling also came the morning after Wichita’s school board voted to require anyone age 3 or older to wear a mask inside its buildings, starting Monday. While only a few counties have imposed mask mandates, at least 15 school districts that serve about a third of the state’s students have a requirement for at least some students or staff.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Wichita budget sets $15 minimum wage for city workers
The Wichita City Council finalized its $670 million annual budget Tuesday, setting a $15 minimum hourly wage for city employees and putting the Century II Performing Arts Center and the city’s golf system squarely on the path to privatization. The approval came after a final hearing where union leader Esau Freeman and Mayor Brandon Whipple traded shots over wages, and Save Century II activist Celeste Racette accused Whipple of being too deferential to developers and acting like a character from a Harry Potter novel. City staff originally projected a $10 million to $11 million shortfall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that was before a $70 million infusion from the federal American Recovery Plan Act and unexpected increases in sales tax revenues.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Municipal Bond Trends for August 24, 2021
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.
Most of Kansas’ top 10 cities grew in population over decade
Eight of the 10 largest cities in Kansas grew in population over the past decade and now are home to nearly half of the state’s residents. New census figures show that 1.34 million of the state’s 2.9 million residents live in the 10 largest cities, or nearly 46%. That’s up 87,021 people or 7% from the 2010 population of 1.25 million. The two large cities that didn’t grow were Topeka, which lost 0.7% of its residents, down to 126,587, and Salina, where the population dropped 1.7% to 46,889. Topeka dropped from No. 4 to No. 5 in size, while Salina remained at No. 10. Olathe jumped from No. 5 to No. 4 by growing 12.3% to 141,290 residents. Lenexa jumped from No. 9 to No. 8 by growing 19.2% to 57,434 residents.
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler