Kansas Municipal News
Municipal Bond Trends for April 8, 2020
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.
Medical center gets lifeline from Ark City
The City of Arkansas City on Tuesday approved $1 million to cover payroll costs over the next three months for the South Central Kansas Medical Center as hospital revenues sink due to a drop-off in normal medical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
City Manager Nick Hernandez said the funds would come from a combination of the city utility reserves and potentially from the general fund.
He also warned commissioners, who approved the funds unanimously, that they should not expect the city to be repaid.
(Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com – RSS Results)
Manhattan to receive $330K for coronavirus response, seeks feedback on CDBG plan
Manhattan is moving forward with the creation of its five-year consolidated Community Development Block Grant plan, and will be getting additional federal funding for COVID-19 response.
City Commissioners Tuesday via ZOOM discussed priorities for the federal CDBG grants intended to benefit low and moderate income residents and neighborhoods and allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Administration is anticipating funding in the $850,000 range….
Manhattan’s 2020 allocation will be nearly $560,000 and about $330,000 for pandemic response programs, reimbursements and creating or leasing new alternate care sites if needed — though the federal government has not approved exact guidelines for COVID-19 response fund use.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
Congressional leaders proposed another $100 mill for hospitals, $150 mill for state, local government
Hospitals would receive another $100 billion in federal emergency grants and an additional $150 billion would go to state and local governments under a fast-evolving plan by congressional leaders to supplement the CARES Act even before they tackle the CARES Act 2.
The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, signed into law March 28 has quickly proven to have insufficient funding.
“Congress has its priorities right in this case,” Chuck Samuels of Mintz Levin, counsel to the National Association of Health & Educational Facilities Finance Authorities, said in an email Wednesday. “Adding to the cash available to vital public and health entities is job one at this point.”
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
Several large new issues price in a stabilizing muni market
The municipal market rallied by as much as 10 basis points, several large new issues priced and ICI reported $1.5 billion of outflows, down dramatically from the previous report of $20 billion.
The market appears to be moving toward some semblance of normal conditions as the new-issue pricings and moderating bid volume create a more stable tone.
Bon Secours Mercy Health’s (A1/A+/AA-/NR) priced $683 million of hospital facilities revenue bonds and Citi received the written award on Texas Public Finance Authority’s (Aaa/AAA/ / ) $472.470 million of general obligation and refunding taxable bonds.
Other large deals out of Virgina, Texas, and Tennessee were providing direction for the overall market.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
Sedgwick County commissioners approve hazard pay for first responders
On Wednesday, the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners approved hazard pay for first responders and support personnel amid the COVID-19 crisis.
County Manager Tom Stolz said first responders will receive a bonus of $200 for the next two pay periods. This includes law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS crews, corrections workers, van drivers for aging transportation services, and others.
Another tier of employees who provide critical services, but don’t have in-person interaction with the public, will receive $100. These are 911 employees, emergency management staff, cooks in corrections facilities, and administrative staff in the sheriff’s office and the health department.
(Read more: KWCH News)
Sedgwick County sends out notices to businesses not complying with stay-at-home order
With its stay-at-home order in effect for at least a couple more weeks, Sedgwick County begins sending out letters to non-essential businesses that break the order by staying open.
With the order, Sedgwick County lists 26 categories of businesses that are deemed “essential” and can remain open during the stay-at-home order. With several complaints about order violations and questions about whether some businesses were “essential,” the county last week launched a stay-at-home order reporting page.
Going a step farther, the Sedgwick County Health Department has, so far, sent notices to 34 businesses failing to comply. Most are gyms and fitness centers. There are also salons and pet-service businesses included.
(Read more: KWCH News)
City of Fort Scott declares local state of emergency
The doors of Fort Scott city hall were open to city commissioners and only a few city staff for a live-streamed meeting. By the end of Tuesday evening’s, session, the City of Fort Scott had implemented two new policies to aid the city in its fight against COVID-19.
The first is Resolution No. 9-2020: a local state of emergency. Although Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has already issued a stay-at-home order, declaring this resolution will help speed up the scheduling process for commission meetings. Normally, the city is required to give a 24-hour public notice if a meeting will be held, but this order drops that time down to 30 minutes.
(Read more: KSNF/KODE – FourStatesHomepage.com)
Sedgwick County rejects proposal to help hospital weather coronavirus setback
On a split vote, Sedgwick County on Wednesday turned down a request by a new hospital in Derby seeking help to get through the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Rock Regional Hospital had asked the commission to act as guarantor of a $2 million loan as it struggles with financial difficulties. The hospital, which opened fully in August, is seeking a similar $1 million loan guarantee from the city of Derby.
The move to deny the request was led by Commissioner David Dennis, who said it would put the county at risk of having to lay off hundreds of employees.
(Read more: Local News |)
Sedgwick County expanding coronavirus COVID-19 testing, supply shortage still problem
After weeks of limiting coronavirus testing to a relative handful of people per day, Sedgwick County is about to ramp up the effort, the county health director said Wednesday.
Adrienne Byrne told county commissioners that the Health Department has contracted with a private-sector lab and should be able to increase its tests to about 50 a day.
That’s more than twice to three times as many as the 15-20 people a day the county has been testing since the pandemic began.
(Read more: Local News |)
Hillsboro declares COVID-19 emergency
Hillsboro city council members declared a state of emergency during their first online meeting Tuesday.
The first 10 minutes of the meeting were spent ironing out minor technical issues.
“This council meeting is unusual — it’s something we’ve never done before but it’s because of the COVID virus,” mayor Lou Thurston said.
Council members passed an emergency declaration giving Thurston and city administrator Larry Paine authority to make decisions on behalf of the city without council members approving them first during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Read more: Marion County RECORD)
USD 232 adding panic buttons, additional security features
USD 232 is adding a duress/panic button that can be activated in case of intruder to key entrances at each of its school buildings this year.
The project will also install electronically controlled magnetic locks and/or controlled spike plates on doors inside main offices and other key areas at 16 facilities within the district.
Once installed the systems allow schools to activate emergency notifications and create additional barriers to help prevent or delay an intruder from entering the main area of each school.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)
Shawnee city leaders support green street design for future transportation infrastructure
The city of Shawnee is planning to add a new classification of transportation infrastructure — called green streets.
Green streets will “provide the amenities of a trail system and streetlights our residents desire, yet won’t include the infrastructure a higher density and higher traffic volume street requires,” according to city documents.
This type of design would be utilized for unimproved streets where development is slated to occur and would allow future roads to be built to the level of current traffic volume.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)
Supreme Court sides with Kansas cops in revoked driver’s license case
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Kansas cops in a traffic stop case, reversing a unanimous decision by the Kansas Supreme Court that a sheriff’s deputy’s actions were unconstitutional.
The question was whether it is reasonable for a law enforcement officer to assume that the registered owner of a vehicle is also its driver, giving them enough suspicion to pull over a vehicle when they know its owner’s driver’s license has been revoked.
The country’s high court ruled 8-1 on Monday that it is in fact reasonable and that a traffic stop under those circumstances does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, whose office successfully argued the case last fall, announced the decision in a news release.
(Read more: Local News |)
Johnson County fields population health survey, asks residents to share info on symptoms
The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment on Tuesday launched a population health survey on COVID-19 symptoms, part of an effort to gain a better understanding of how widespread infection rates here might be.
The voluntary survey, which is available here, will be open through Friday, April 10 at 10 a.m. Participants will be “asked to do this same survey several more times in the next few weeks in order to compare results,” according to JCDHE.
The survey asks residents to share information about:
- Whether they are experiencing possible symptoms of coronavirus infection
- Their age, sex, ethnicity and zip code
- Contact information
The county says all of the information will be kept confidential by JCDHE and will only be used to conduct an analysis on community spread of the virus.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
Municipal bond primary market awakens as interest rates continue to fall
Yields in the municipal market fell by as much as 10 basis points Tuesday as issuers begin to test the primary market with dealers opening up their balance sheets after weeks of inactivity.
The Portland School District No. 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon, (Aa1/ AA+/NR/NR) hit the market with a sale that had been postponed from last week.
It was the largest competitive deal seen in several weeks and sources said the deal was well spoken for. The 10-year yielded 1.59% but the largest tranche was $54 million in the one year, 5s of 2021, which were priced at 1.19%, just about 15 basis points above AAA benchmarks.
Several other new issues came to market with yields that fell mostly in line with their credit profiles relative to benchmarks. Citi took indications of interest on Texas Public Finance Authority’s (Aaa/AAA/NR/NR) $472.705 million of Series 2020 taxable general obligation and refunding bonds.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
Municipal Bond Trends for April 7, 2020
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.
Topeka USD 501 ending meals program; mayor hopes to find solution soon
After several weeks providing daily lunches to students at pick-up sites across the city, Topeka Unified School District 501 has announced it will end distribution of meals on Wednesday.
Grab-and-go meals provided by USD 501 in response to the closure of schools because of COVID-19 were available at 13 spots around town, as well as at 25 bus stops. Meals typically included a carton of milk and juice and food for breakfast and lunch.
A message distributed by the school district Monday evening said local food agencies and the school’s pantries would be the providers of food to students moving forward, thus terminating the lunch distribution program the district had in place. The message provided a list of sites where food is made available, most of them charitable organizations.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
City of Salina Police Department enacting Emergency Accident Reporting Plan (EARP)
Due to the dramatic rise of amount of COVID-19 cases in Kansas in the past week, the Salina Police Department will be enacting the Emergency Accident Reporting Plan (EARP) on April 8, 2020 at 12:01 P.M. The spread of the virus is projected to worsen by the end of April to the first part of May, 2020.
… this plan is two-fold:
- Reduce our potential for exposure to COVID-19 for both our officers and citizens
- Allow other calls of a higher priority to be handled in a more expeditiously manner
(Read more: Salina KS News)
Wichita OKs borrowing up to $1 million for coronavirus COVID-19 fight
Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple on Tuesday proposed instituting paid maternity leave for employees as part of the city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor floated that idea during a budget workshop where the City Council was briefed on a pending city shortfall estimated in the $8- to $10 million range.
Whipple said the city should consider establishing paid leave for new mothers now, because City Hall has asked its employees to donate their unused sick leave and vacation time to supplement the pay of 290 co-workers who are furloughed from their jobs during a statewide stay-home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease.
(Read more: Local News |)