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.
As the Wichita City Council is poised to vote on a new contract for management of the Wichita Ice Center downtown, a well-known developer is poised to kick off plans for a potential new $50 million ice center in the K-96 and Greenwich area. “I am going to propose building a new ice center in Wichita,” said Rick Worner, who is involved in major developments in Wichita, Goddard and Derby. “I have run this concept by a half dozen local Wichita people and a dozen non-Wichita people — banks, financial institutions.” Sales tax and revenue bonds, or STAR bonds, are part of the attraction. The K-96 and Greenwich area, where Worner is a partner in Greenwich Place and helped open the Wichita Sports Forum, is in a STAR bonds district. One use for potential star bonds is to build a multisport athletic facility.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Sedgwick County commissioners voted Wednesday to go along with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, as required by the federal government, but some commissioners voiced reservations over the decision. The mandate requires health care and COMCARE workers for the county to be vaccinated by February 28th. The mandate does not apply to fire and EMS workers, and it would not apply to people working remotely. Commissioner Jim Howell said he is vaccinated and is not against the vaccine, but he doesn’t like the mandate and he doesn’t want to see a county employee terminated for not getting the vaccine. He and Commission Chairman David Dennis said if a health care worker refuses the vaccine, another position should be found for them in county government. Howell said he wants to work with employees as much as possible, saying the county has a huge deficit of people already.
Source: Country 101.3 KFDI
Despite the pandemic, sales tax receipts took a big jump in 2021. That’s good news for local governments, and according to a local economist, it’s a good portent for area businesses, as well. For 2021, sales tax revenue in Harvey County increased 10 percent over 2020 or 12 percent compared to 2019. That number means more money for local cities. Newton received $518,000 more in sales tax receipts this year, for instance. “We did do very well this year, thank goodness,” Newton finance director Donna Pickman stated. The month of December saw an especially large jump in dollars spent, increasing by 36 percent compared to 2020.
Source: Harvey County Now
Moscow has been awarded the SHAPE Award of Kansas from The Kansas Department of Labor. This was the first award given out this year. There have only been seven awards given out in ten years since they started giving them out in 2012. The Kansas Department of Labor makes over 500 visits to public entities a year. Moscow is one of the first in the southwest Kansas area and one of the first small cities to receive it. The Industrial Safety and Health Division recognizes safety conscious employers and employees in the public sector. The Safety and Health Award for Public Employees (SHAPE) program is designed for those public sector entities whose employees have not had a lost-time accident for a specific number of consecutive days.
Source: Hugoton Hermes News
A missing Spring Hill city councilman is forcing the small Johnson County town to confront its controversial mayoral election without saying a word. Councilman Steve Owen walked out of the city’s Jan. 10 meeting to protest the appointment of new Mayor Joe Berkey and he hasn’t returned to the dais since — avoiding three special meetings and single-handedly halting the council’s ability to appoint new members to its two vacant seats. Berkey was appointed to fill the mayor’s seat left empty by the abrupt resignation of Tyler Graves, a sitting councilman who won the race for mayor in November but shocked the town by announcing days later that he would vacate both his council seat and the mayor’s job as his family moved out of state.
Source: Joco 913 News
The eventual outcome of a federal lawsuit initiated last year against Olathe could factor into how officials evaluate where future thrift stores can open in the city. Recent months have seen movement in a complaint Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas initiated against Olathe in March in federal court in Kansas. Although the parties did not settle the case at a six-hour mediation session in early December, they agreed to undertake further investigation and reconvene this month “to further explore potential resolutions,” attorneys wrote in a recent court filing. In November, the Olathe City Council voted “to proceed with strategies as discussed with and directed by the governing body,” immediately after an executive session held for discussions that officials said were protected by attorney-client privilege.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
The state of Kansas is among two finalists for a massive, advanced manufacturing facility capable of creating 4,000 permanent jobs and injecting more than $2.5 billion annually into the economy. The Kansas Department of Commerce offered that tantalizing information during a Senate committee hearing about creation of an extraordinary property, sales and income tax incentive program open to companies making a minimum $1 billion investment in the state over a five-year period. There was no disclosure of the prospective company or the county that could host the manufacturing facility due to confidentiality agreements. Another provision in the Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion Act would deliver tax incentives to existing or new Kansas-based suppliers if conducting a least $10 million in annual sales with this type of manufacturing giant.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Most workers in the county’s health and mental health departments will have to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or face possible firing, the Sedgwick County Commission decided Wednesday. The county employees will have until Feb. 28 to become fully vaccinated with the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson jab. The vaccine mandate for public-facing health care workers is required by the federal government and if the county doesn’t comply, it could lose more than $11 million in federal Medicare and Medicaid funding, officials said.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Parsons city commissioners Tuesday approved an ordinance — with some additions — regarding vicious dogs and animals. The ordinance allows an animal control officer to impound an animal pending the determination of being declared vicious, allows an animal that bites or attacks a human or another domestic animal to be declared vicious and specifies the procedure to do that. It also requires an owner to pay vet fees associated within three days of the rabies vaccination period and further defines a crime of harboring a vicious animal.
Source: Parsons Sun
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