Pittsburg to buy 192 acres for industrial park

The Pittsburg City Commission this week approved purchasing approximately 192 acres located north of Atkinson and west of Free King Highway for $1.2 million and annexing it into the city for use as a future industrial park. “We only have so much industrial park space in the city,” said City Manager Daron Hall. “We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a lot of growth in the businesses that are in our industrial parks, and the few acres that we have unallocated are currently being sought after. What we don’t have is a very large, new, undeveloped industrial park with rail access, next to a highway, which this is.”
Source: Morning Sun

Ranson Financial2021-09-01T07:26:31-05:00September 1, 2021|News|

Municipal Bond Trends for August 31, 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.

Ranson Financial2021-09-01T07:08:17-05:00September 1, 2021|News|

Audit report says STAR bonds are not boosting Kansas tourism

A new state audit found that few projects financed with STAR bonds are meeting requirements for bringing visitors and money into Kansas. The audit from the Legislature’s auditing arm was released Monday. Auditors found that only three of the 16 attractions they reviewed met tourism goals by bringing in a significant percentage of visitors from other states. STAR bonds allow municipalities to issue bonds to finance major developments, which are paid through sales tax revenue generated by the project. Among the projects not meeting the benchmarks is the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, including the soccer stadium, strip mall, water park and business complex that surrounds it.
Source: Country 101.3 KFDI

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T22:05:18-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

Cherokee County panel adopts 1-year wind farm moratorium

Cherokee County Commission members on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution that establishes a one-year moratorium on wind energy development inside of county limits, saying they want additional information on such operations. “I believe we, as a commission, deserve the time and the right to fact-find,” said Commissioner Lorie Johnson, of District 2. The resolution establishes a moratorium and suspends certain types of improvements regarding wind energy on any land within the limits of Cherokee County for one year, officials said. The wind farm moratorium was approved after Thursday’s special meeting at which commissioners met with representatives from RWE Renewables Americas, of Texas, for the first time to discuss how the county was chosen as a potential site for an industrial wind farm. Garrett Ketchen, wind development manager with RWE, said the project would benefit local landowners who lease the air above their land and could create 10 to 15 local jobs. He added if the project was approved, it would be installed in three to five years.
Source: www.joplinglobe.com

Ranson Financial2021-09-01T07:06:51-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

Rural advocates pinpoint holes in Kansas mental health, multilingual services

Rural health and education advocates say increased access to mental health care and improved cultural or linguistic services would go a long way toward addressing disparities between communities of color and their white counterparts in rural Kansas. Francisca Jimenez, a parenting coach and home visitor for Russell Child Development Center, said a lack of cultural competency training or limited language comprehension leaves some Latino families isolated from consistent health resources. Families she and fellow home visitors work with can be uneasy about saying what ails them, especially in a foreign language, she said.
Source: Kansas Reflector

Ranson Financial2021-09-01T07:07:20-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

Legislative audit places Kansas’ lonely reliance on STAR bonds under harsh spotlight

The state’s $1.1 billion investment in special economic development bonds supporting museums, racetracks and other attractions produced only three outside of the mega-development at Village West in Wyandotte County that fulfilled the Kansas Department of Commerce’s primary objective of elevating tourism among long-distance or out-of-state visitors. Analysis by the Kansas Legislature’s auditors, who responded to lawmakers’ skepticism that the STAR bond program didn’t work as advertised, indicated the Kansas Speedway and Topeka Heartland Park track attracted 20% of visitors from outside the state and 30% of visitors from more than 100 miles away in 2018 and 2019. The Hutchinson Underground Salt Mine met both metrics in 2019. This study looked at 16 projects benefitting from Garden City to Derby and Atchison to Dodge City that host developments supported by diverting sales tax revenue to pay off the development bonds.
Source: Kansas Reflector

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T21:45:15-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

September will bring new badge for Hutchinson Police

The Hutchinson Police Department will begin wearing a brand-new badge starting on September 1st, 2021, in honor of the department’s sesquicentennial anniversary. Captain Thad Pickard, Captain of Professional Standards, designed the new badge. Pickard wished to create a badge that would represent the entire 150-year history of the police department, including the iconic Salt Hawk, a ring to describe the history of policing and a two-tone design to represent the different officers, patrol and ranked. ‘The shield is silver, giving honor to the true workforce of our department, the patrol officers, the banners are gold to honor the officers that hold rank,’ said Pickard.
Source: Hutch News

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T07:37:34-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

Audit: Projects using hotly debated Kansas economic development tool not hitting key benchmarks

Few projects financed using STAR bonds met benchmarks for bringing visitors and spending to the state, a new report from the Legislature’s non-partisan auditing arm revealed Monday. Moreover, a sampling of three projects using the tool found it will take decades, even upward of a century, for revenues from out-of-state visitors to reach the point where the state had made back the tax revenue it gave up for those enterprises. STAR bonds, short for Sales Tax and Revenue Bonds, are an economic development tool designed to boost tourism and business activity in Kansas. They have existed in the state for decades. They allow municipalities to issue bonds to finance major commercial, entertainment and tourism developments and are paid off through sales tax revenue generated by the project.
Source: CJonline

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T07:32:08-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

When will Kansas recoup taxes from STAR bonds projects? May be next century, auditors say

Kansas may spend decades — or even more than a century — recouping the sales tax revenue it gave up developing large attractions under a controversial incentive program, state auditors estimate. The Prairiefire museum in Overland Park? It’s sales tax break-even year may not come until 2104. The Wichita Sports Forum? It could be as late as 2076. The Hutchinson Underground Salt Museum? Your great-grandchildren will be around in 2132. Auditors for the Kansas Legislature released a critical evaluation of the state’s Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds program Monday that is certain to fuel calls for further reform of the incentive. Some lawmakers view the program as a revenue giveaway to entice business growth that would have happened anyway.Source: Parsons Sun

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T07:31:03-05:00August 31, 2021|News|

New machine will help Winfield add walking paths

City of Winfield workers assisted by Daniels Ready Mix recently tested a new slipform paver acquired by the city to help put down concrete paths. According to City Manager Taggart Wall, the new technology allows to city to lay paths much more efficiently than traditional forming methods. The slipform paver places, compacts and finishes the concrete as it is pulled behind a tractor or concrete truck. “We were able to work together with the management at Daniels Ready Mix to find the right mix design to help us be successful,” Wall said.
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler

Ranson Financial2021-08-31T07:29:48-05:00August 31, 2021|News|