Kansas Municipal News
Kansas State changing mask policy, cites CDC guidance
Kansas State University is altering its mask policy for outdoor settings, citing updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WIBW-TV reports that starting May 17, those who are fully vaccinated can participate in campus outdoor activities and recreation without a mask, except in crowded settings and venues. Those exceptions may include live performances, parades and sporting events. The university says masks will still be required in all indoor spaces on university property. The CDC announced the new guidance in late April, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.
Source: KSN-TV
The city of Parsons saw the return of some of its history recently
The city of Parsons saw the return of some of its history recently. The Parsons Historical Society Museum, hosted their seasonal opening this weekend. The museum debuted their recently completed West End Hall with new display cases and exhibits including one from the Boy Scouts of America. The museum was unable to open on time last year due to the pandemic, preventing a lot of major fundraising from taking place. Since it operates off of donations from the community, opening on time held extra importance for the museum this year.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Trails in Columbus entering the final stages of construction
The city of Columbus is about to get a little more active. The first trails in Columbus are entering the final phases of construction. One trail will loop around the soccer fields in Eddington Park before it will connect to even more trails throughout the city. Once the trail system is completed it’s estimated to be about three miles long. Officials hope the trails will help with economic development and improve community health. Dan Walters, Columbus Trails Committee, says, “We got a couple of places where people can walk off road but we’re working on building up the sidewalks and the walking areas, so it’s important that people can get their exercise in here, like i say it’s going to be a good place to get of the road and walk a little bit.”
Source: KSNF/KODE
Splash Pad coming soon to Pittsburg
A new city project is making a big “splash” in Pittsburg. A new splash pad will soon be coming to Schlanger Park. This will be replacing the old fill and drain pool which previously had existed in the park since the 1930’s. The city plans to open it in mid-July alongside the new pavilion and butterfly garden in the park. The project was funded halfway by The Land and Water Conservation Fund grant back in 2020 but then gained community support to move the rest of the project along. Kim Vogel, Pittsburg Parks And Recreation Director, says, “Several organizations step up to volunteer financially to help move the project forward, which has been great, some donations that have come in, otherwise we couldn’t do it, so everyone seems pretty excited to have this in our community.”
Source: KSNF/KODE
New website maps local historic sites in Southeast Kansas
Like local history? Then you’ll love Southeast Kansas History Online. Simply navigate to the SEK History homepage at sekhistory.com, on either desktop, tablet or mobile, and you’re ready to start exploring. Did we mention that it’s absolutely free, thanks to a generous grant from the nonprofit organization Humanities Kansas? Humanities Kansas is a cultural organization that connects communities with history, traditions and ideas to strengthen civic life.
Source: The Iola Register
Senate rejects health club tax exemption
The Kansas Senate late Friday rejected an agreement between committees from both chambers on a property tax bill after including a highly scrutinized property tax exemption for health and fitness clubs. House Bill 2313 includes provisions to provide financial relief for smaller retailers hurt by temporary shutdown orders during the pandemic, and expands a law exempting Kansans in the military from paying property taxes on two vehicles. The bill also includes an extension of a 20-mill property tax levy that generates $750 million annually for K-12 public schools. In a tradeoff, the House contingency offered to support a Senate-backed section of the bill providing elderly Kansans with a residential property tax “freeze” in exchange for including House Bill 2445 — the fitness club exemption.
Source: The Iola Register
Plan could give $500M to businesses
Republicans pushed a plan through the Kansas Legislature early Saturday that could provide roughly $500 million to small businesses to offset losses tied to state and local restrictions meant to check COVID-19’s spread last year. The measure would require the state, cities and counties to set aside part of their federal coronavirus relief funds to pay claims from small businesses. It was the last bill lawmakers considered before shutting down their annual session except for a formal adjournment May 26. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bipartisan public school funding bill and finished a $21 billion state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget also included provisions to prevent the state from issuing COVID-19 vaccine passports and to restrict efforts to track down close contacts of people with the virus. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signaled that she plans to sign the education bill, and she’s expected to approve most to all of the budget’s items. But she has not said what she’ll do with the business-compensation bill.
Source: The Iola Register
Single-family homes increase in price by $36,000 due to lumber shortage: study
A lumber shortage amid a red-hot housing market has caused the price of single-family homes to jump approximately $36,000 since last April, a new study finds. The analysis, from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), emerges as lumber prices in April skyrocketed 250% year over year. The lumber price hike has also added $13,000 to the market value of an average new multifamily home, translating to households paying an additional $119 a month in rent on a new apartment. It’s not just lumber prices on the rise. Per NAHB, other building materials have been “steadily rising since 2020” and are “in short supply.” “This unprecedented price surge is hurting American home buyers and home builders and impeding housing and economic growth,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke, a custom home builder from Tampa, Fla., in a statement.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF
Dollar General could be coming to Garden Plain
… Garden Plain city officials announced that Dollar General is looking to open a store in that community. The company pulled permits for construction earlier that day. … Angela Petkovic of Dollar General public relations said Thursday that company is in the “due diligence phase” for a new store in Garden Plain. … “This means we are reviewing the opportunity to add a new store in Sedgwick County, but we have not committed to doing so just yet. Based on our current timeline, we anticipate to have a final decision on this within the coming weeks,” she said via email.
Source: Times-Sentinel Newspapers » Feed
Gypsum Pie Festival and Car Show
Tasty pies and classic cars. That sounds like a recipe for a fun weekend. Today, we’ll learn about a rural community which combines those things for a big community festival every year. Sandy Kruse is the mayor of Gypsum, Kansas. She is also a key volunteer with the annual event now known as the Gypsum Pie Festival and Car Show. Sandy was born in Salina. In 1961, she and her husband moved to Gypsum where she’s lived ever since. Sandy is now semi-retired from her position as a registered nurse at Tammy Walker Cancer Center in Salina. She was also elected Mayor of Gypsum in 2017.
Source: themercury.com
Investors back off view that Fed could raise rates in late 2022
U.S. investors who had been betting the Fed would raise rates as early as the end of next year abruptly retreated from those positions on Friday after a disappointing April employment report and now see the earliest the Fed might tighten roughly two years away. The push back in expectations for when the Fed might start raising rates also means any reduction in the pace of its bond buying – which the Fed has said will begin first – may also occur later than some investors had been betting.
Source: Reuters.
One more chapter: Administrator Ron Marsh to leave Clearwater for Abilene
A new chapter will begin June 1 for Ron Marsh. That’s when Clearwater’s city administrator will take on the same role in the city of Abilene. The Clearwater city council accepted Marsh’s resignation at its meeting on April 27. It’s an opportunity for my career, a little bit bigger town. It’s more of a standalone town,” he said. Abilene has a population of nearly 6,400 people, more than twice that of Clearwater’s 2,500 residents. Marsh has long been involved in government work. He worked for 18 years in Sedgwick County’s public works department, spending much of that time in administration and management. He overlapped that work with service to Clearwater.
Source: TSNews.com.
Yield-Starved Investors Snap Up Municipal Bonds
Investors in search of higher returns and lower taxes are scooping up debt sold by state and local governments, pushing borrowing costs to near-record lows and boosting coffers from California to Connecticut. Investors have poured a net $39 billion into municipal-bond mutual funds this year through Thursday, according to data compiled by Municipal Market Analytics, the most over the same period since 2008. Returns on the debt, which local governments use to fund public works such as sewers or bridges, have beaten those of corporate bonds and Treasurys. … One factor driving recent gains, according to some analysts: State and local governments can’t sell bonds fast enough for investors. … While proposed federal infrastructure spending could ease the jam by putting local policy makers in better position to issue more muni bonds for other projects, many expect new demand for munis from wealthy households if the Biden administration’s plan to raise capital-gains taxes advances in Congress.
Source: Wall Street Journal.
Municipal Bond Trends for May 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.
Airbnb donates $15K for Choose Topeka program that pays moves to capital city
Home renting app Airbnb has donated $15,000 to the Choose Topeka program that pays people to move to the capital city, the Greater Topeka Partnership announced Thursday. Airbnb’s cash injection signals a national partnership with the Choose Topeka program after it was extended into 2021. The funds are intended to give potential Choose Topeka applicants free housing while they visit the area to tour neighborhoods and jobs. “As some consumers think through relocating, local, hosted stays enabled by Airbnb provide a fantastic option to explore neighborhoods before making a decision,” said Barbara Stapleton, vice president of business retention and talent initiatives at GTP. “Through this partnership, potential residents will be able to ‘try before they buy,’ prior to making the commitment to the Choose Topeka program – and can truly experience what life could look like here if selected.”
Source: KSNT News
Governor Laura Kelly Announces 490 New Jobs in Leawood, Kansas
Today, Governor Laura Kelly applauded the announcement of a major investment in Leawood from Torch.AI, a global leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company will invest $45 million and create 490 high-paying, full-time cybersecurity-related jobs in the community. “With our strong public schools and top-tier workforce, Kansas is one of the best places in the nation to do business,” said Governor Laura Kelly. “Torch.AI will bring sophisticated, high-wage tech jobs to Kansas and will improve our ability to recruit forward-thinking tech experts to our state. I look forward to seeing the incredible developments that will undoubtedly come from this new facility.”
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
New school funding, choice plan advances in Kansas with promise of Kelly’s signature
Kansas lawmakers sent a new plan to modestly expand school choice eligibility in Kansas while providing full funding to K-12 public schools to Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk Friday evening.
Both chambers passed the bills with overwhelming support after minimal debate. It was in stark contrast to the heated arguments last month over the GOP’s original plan to tie school funding to what would have been the state’s largest school choice measure ever.
The House approved the bill 107-9 while the Senate passed it 35-4.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Lack of demand causes Kansas to severely cut back on vaccine orders
Kansas has requested less than 9% of its federal allocation of COVID-19 vaccine doses for this week, as Republican state lawmakers try to revive proposals to ban government vaccine passports and restore limits on tracing the close contacts of people exposed to the virus. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s office said Thursday that the state asked for fewer than 14,000 vaccine doses for the week, out of a federal allotment of almost 162,000. While the state sought its full allotment of 6,400 doses of a one-shot vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, it requested only 7,510 doses of its allocation of 155,540 doses of two-shot vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
Source: The Iola Register
Kansas Legislature wraps 2021 session with late-night property tax deal
After months filled with long days of prickly debate, Senate President Ty Masterson brought the legislative session to a close late Friday night by thanking his colleagues for working diligently and patiently through a jam-packed schedule of bills. In the final day, the House and Senate came together to tie up loose ends to school finance after negotiations with the governor’s office, and finalized the state budget by injecting cash into Kansas universities, increasing pay for judges and restricting the use of vaccine passports. Legislators also sent bills to Gov. Laura Kelly creating a COVID-19 small business relief act, and amended state insurance code and liquor laws.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Cattle drive marks Caldwell, Kansas’s 150th birthday
The city of Caldwell celebrated its 150th birthday this weekend, and what better way to do that than to pay respect to the city’s history with a cattle drive? The drive began on Monday in Oklahoma, following along the historic Chisholm Trail. The journey is part of a celebration for those in Caldwell and Sumner counties. Those who participated in the event were tired coming into Caldwell, but happy with the experience.
Source: KAKE – News