“Small as we are, if we get one phone call, that can cause a ripple,” said Sean Pederson, the city manager of Bonner Springs, Kan., a community of about 7,800 residents some 20 miles west of Kansas City. Mr. Pederson said he has found himself mopping floors during the pandemic when city hall janitors were out with the virus. Over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, a snowstorm blanketed the region. With multiple employees out on the city’s public works staff, other departments scrambled to find workers to plow the streets. … It’s a familiar story in small towns across the country, where the spike in infections from the Omicron variant hit local governments with particular force. The virus has ripped through big cities like Los Angeles and New York, sidelining thousands of police officers and transit operators. In many, leaders have rushed to reassure residents that firefighters and paramedics will show up when they call amid record absences. But in small communities, the people responsible for keeping crucial public services up and running say the strain is acute: With bare-bones workforces already stretched thin, there is no margin for error when multiple workers have to call in sick.
Source: NY Times

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’s mayor and city council will consider setting aside at least $35 million to be used to finance infrastructure projects out of the federal COVID relief funding the city will receive. That body on Feb. 1 will take up a proposal that would take that step while directing the council’s policy and finance committee to create a process to distribute the rest of the $45,676,831 the city has been awarded through the American Rescue Plan Act. “Once developed, this process will be brought back to the full body for its consideration,” says the proposed resolution, which is sponsored by interim city manager Bill Cochran.
Source: CJonline