Kansas Municipal News
Municipal Bond Trends for July 8, 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.
Treasury yields stabilize Friday morning after steep decline on Thursday
Treasury yields plunged Thursday as investors sought havens… The decline reflects concerns about prospects for economic growth and the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, coupled with low vaccination rates in parts of the country. Yields stabilized this morning, and equity futures bounced back, with the 10-year Treasury trading at 1.33%, down from 1.78% in March.
Source: SIFMA
‘I have big dreams for this.’ Edgerton’s fundraiser to help kids get school supplies
An afternoon of summer fun brought smiles to many around Edgerton Elementary School. Teams from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Johnson County Fire District 1 played a softball game June 19 to raise funds for school supplies and registration fees for students. It raised approximately $35,000, which will cover every student at the school this year. The idea came from county sheriff’s deputy Brad Johnson. “Basically, I was just driving around town, trying to figure out the best way that we could make an impact on the community,” Johnson said. “I came up with idea of doing a fundraiser and taking care of the kids at school. That would directly impact everybody. The parents wouldn’t have that financial burden.”
Source: KC Star Local News
Raising the roofs: Sharing a vision for housing
Matt Godinez has the recipe for success in housing. He’s director of the Chanute Regional Development Authority (CRDA), an organization working to revitalize and rebuild not only Chanute, but communities throughout the region. “We can all be feeding off of each other,” he said, and contended that regionalism is a key ingredient to economic development projects of all kinds, where county borders and city limits matter less than perhaps they used to. Consider the following example. “OK developer,” Godinez said, “you won’t build five houses in Chanute, but what if I can get you to build 100 houses in southeast Kansas?” “Maybe 10 in Iola, 10 in Chanute, 10 in Parsons,” and so on. “Our buying power is in all of us together, not in standing alone,” he added.
Source: The Iola Register
Two dozen transportation infrastructure projects announced for critical Kansas roads
Construction on nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in modernization and expansion projects for critical Kansas roadways will soon be underway across the state, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday. Eight projects are planned in eastern Kansas, nine out west, six in the south-central region and one significant project in the Overland Park area, Kelly said during a stop in Topeka. Efforts include expanding historically deadly road shoulders, adding new passing lanes on narrower highways and updating interchanges. Out of every $10 spent by the state in the 1950s and ’60s, as much as $3 was spent on transportation, Kelly said. By 2018, that number had dropped to 70 cents out of every $10, she said. To ensure future generations have adequate infrastructure, reversing that trend is critical, Kelly said.
Source: Kansas Reflector
County, City eco devo team up
Barton County will join forces with Great Bend Economic Development Inc. to the tune of $40,000 for a national campaign aimed at bolstering the county’s and Great Bend’s profile, and making them more competitive. The County Commission approved the funding Wednesday morning for advertising and project development support, doubling what was sought by GBED. While all commissioners favored the initial $20,000 requested, support for the increased amount was not unanimous. GBED requested the $20,000 to help with targeted advertising to aid in recruiting new businesses and individuals. With county funds included in the overall marketing budget, GBED would have the funding necessary for professionally created video and print campaigns, said GBED President Sara Hayden.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Downtown Great Bend loft project a go
Although it did not garner unanimous support, the Great Bend City Council Tuesday night approved spending half of the city’s $2,271,654.71 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for a downtown rehabilitation project to assist in sprinkler system installation and other improvements to downtown lofts. The city will receive two equal ARPA installments, with the first direct payment coming by July 31. The second half will come about a year later. Great Bend Economic Development Inc. President Sara Hayden proposed using half of those funds to reimburse owners of multi-story buildings in the downtown district on an application basis. The council action granted this up to $1 million with half coming from each of the ARPA payments. “There are 18 buildings that want to move forward with this,” Hayden said.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
COVID’s Delta Comeback In Southeast Kansas Has Health Officials Pleading People To Get Vaccinated
Just a few weeks before COVID-19 vaccines became available, Teddi Van Kam got sick from the virus. The director of the Crawford County health department, in far southeast Kansas, was laid out for four weeks. As the pandemic became increasingly dire in her community, she was too sick to work. “I was scared,” Van Kam said. “I couldn’t breathe.” By the time she recovered, the vaccines were available. She got her shot and went back to tackling the pandemic. And she became a vaccine evangelist. But lately, converts have become hard to find. A year and a half into the outbreak, less than half of Crawford County residents are fully inoculated with a potentially life-saving vaccine. “You wish you could convey to them how bad this could be,” Van Kam said, “but you have to be careful how you do those things.” Now, she faces a new challenge: convincing vaccine-hesitant, pandemic-weary people in her community that the danger remains, that things are getting scarier.
Source: KCUR News
Lack of accessible parking attracts threat of suit
Marion’s lack of fully accessible downtown parking despite a recent streetscape project has resulted in a warning from a lawyer representing a disabled Marion resident. The lawyer’s letter demands the city tell, by Tuesday, what it plans to do to resolve the problem. “Failure to do so will result in continued escalation of this matter,” lawyer Josh Boehm wrote. “Our client is committed to seek an appropriate resolution through continued escalation of this matter, including but not limited to filing suit if necessary.”
Source: Marion County RECORD
Cowley County to conduct drive-thru Q-Box distribution
The Coronavirus Relief Funds, as part of the CARES Act, provided Cowley County with the opportunity to purchase and distribute Q-Boxes to those adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID numbers are trending in a positive direction and the infection rate is low, some county residents are still feeling the impacts of the pandemic, including not enough to eat. Cowley County will be offering Q-Boxes to those in need on a drive-thru basis behind the Cowley County North Annex in the 300 block of East Eighth Avenue in Winfield. The distribution is from 8 to 11 a.m. Friday and again July 17. The effort is being called the Bret Smith Memorial Community Care Drive. Smith died at age 35 in May.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
Wichita is debuting flashing yellow left turn signals
The City of Wichita is implementing a new type of traffic signal in an effort to provide a safer, more efficient left turn for drivers. The city said Thursday that flashing yellow arrows will begin debuting on West Street at Walker and at Harry. At signalized intersections, the city said there is often a separate signal indicator to let drivers making a left turn know when they either have and are protected from opposing traffic, which is stopped. But in a permissive left turn, drivers can only turn when there is a safe gap in oncoming traffic, which has historically been conveyed to motorists by a circular green light.
Source: KAKE – News
Douglas County cuts funding for group bringing high-tech jobs to town; future discussion likely about county’s role in eco devo funding
Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to cut $50,000 in funding from the Bioscience & Technology Business Center for the 2022 budget year. That ended up being a less significant cut than the $100,000 that county commissioners were discussing on Tuesday. The significance, though, probably is best measured in sentiment, not dollars. The sentiment on Wednesday included some commissioners openly wondering whether part of the money they spend on trying to attract high-wage bioscience jobs — the county this year is spending a little more than $400,000 on the BTBC — would be better spent on trying to foster more blue-collar job opportunities.
Source: LJWorld.com.
$129M in improvements coming to Sedgwick County’s worst bottleneck, other traffic tangles
More improvements for Sedgwick County’s notorious North Junction and three other south-central Kansas road projects were announced Wednesday by Gov. Laura Kelly. The projects, totaling $129 million in construction costs, will address transportation needs in Sedgwick, Sumner, Harvey and Marion counties, including a historically deadly stretch of U.S. Highway 50 between Burrton and Peabody. The North Junction exchange ties together four highways: I-135, I-235, K-96 and K-254. It’s a commuter’s nightmare that backs up morning and evening on virtually a daily basis.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Emporia hires firm to find next manager
The Emporia City Commission selected a search firm to identify candidates to become the next city manager during its action session Wednesday afternoon. Osenbaugh-Deardoff Consulting out of Derby will assist the city in the process of replacing current city manager Mark McAnarney, who announced last month that he will retire by the end of this year. Osenbaugh-Deardoff was one of five candidates determined by special projects coordinator Jim Witt and was the firm that received his top recommendation “because of their location in Kansas, knowledge of Kansas, how non-metro service centers like Emporia function, and to me that’s an important factor.”
Source: Emporia Gazette
Sunflower Summer Program gives students chance to learn while visiting attractions
A new program will help children stay engaged in learning throughout the summer months while spending quality time with family members and friends touring some of Kansas’ greatest attractions – all for free. The Sunflower Summer program, which is being funded by federal COVID-19 money to offer summer enrichment activities for Kansas students, is a collaboration between the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), Kansas Department of Commerce, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, KU Center for Public Partnerships and Research, and Greenbush Education Service Center.
Source: Local News | hiawathaworldonline.com
Prairie Village police chief warns against marijuana decriminalization
The Prairie Village City Council Monday evening agreed to move ongoing discussions about potentially decriminalizing marijuana possession to the city’s diversity committee, even as the city’s top law enforcement officer warned against the move in comments to the city council. Councilmembers Inga Selders and Ian Graves started Prairie Village’s marijuana decriminalization conversation in January. Soon after, city staff was directed to look into possible options, including possibly removing marijuana-related language from the city code and reducing municipal penalties for marijuana possession and other offenses.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Municipal Bond Trends for July 7, 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.
Manhattan Commission Gets Development Code Update on “Non-Conforming” Properties
Another look into the revamp of the Manhattan City Code that’s underway was given the City Commission Tuesday night, including a view of how changes to the code have resulted in mismatching development in some areas. Assistant Director of Community Development Chad Bunger highlighted a home that had been built single-family in 1925 and turned into multiple units when zoning changed in 1969. Bunger says one change will be that a property where a non-conforming building suffers damage that totals more than 50-percent of its market value, the owner has to bring it into compliance, rescinding an adjustment made in 2003.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Atchison Approves Expanded Sunday Liquor Sale Hours
City Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow for the expanded hours for cereal malt beverage and liquor sales on Sundays beginning in mid-September during Tuesday’s meeting. The ordinance allows the retail sale of such beverages on Sundays to begin at 9 a.m., rather than noon, after the state legislature approved the change during the last session. Now approved, the ordinance will be published in the Atchison Globe, after which there is a 60-day waiting period to allow for any public petition that could force the issue onto a public ballot.
Source: Atchison Globe Now
State tax revenue eclipses Kansas projections by $758 million
The state of Kansas closed out June with unexpectedly strong corporate and personal income tax as well as sales tax collections to push revenue during the past fiscal year $758 million beyond receipts anticipated by analysts, the governor said Friday. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat seeking re-election in 2022, said the June report affirmed work to strengthen the state’s economy was paying off. “As we transition into the next fiscal year,” Kelly said, “my administration will continue moving our economy forward by prioritizing pro-growth policies that will support Kansas businesses and families.” The Kansas Department of Revenue said the state took in $8.9 billion during the fiscal year running from July 1, 2020, to June 30. The total was $758.1 million, or 9.3%, greater than projected by a panel of revenue forecasters.
Source: Derby Informer | Area