Former interim city manager Ed Flentje proposed spending another $1.6 million on the Old Town tax increment finance district and then end it two years earlier than expected. Now city council member Sharon Fearey says the district should remain open for a little longer — long enough to fund $750,000 worth of resurfaced public parking lots and security projects. Her council counterparts seem to agree and plan to include those projects in their 2009-2010 budget Tuesday. (Here’s the list of projects… old-town-tif-2008-2012.)
The Old Town TIF was created in 1991, and a total of $4.3 million in bonds was issued to pay for the Old Town parking garage and sidewalk and street improvements, according to the city budget. Now it produces more money than it needs, and Old Town Association members and the city keep coming up with new projects to spend the money on rather than putting the property tax dollars, which have increased 423 percent since 1993, back on the general tax rolls to fund citywide projects.
The TIF district was to die naturally in 2013. But Flentje told the council that closing the TIF in 2011 would make about $250,000 a year for the city, Sedgwick County and the Wichita School District, all of which split property tax dollars. Under Fearey’s proposal, it would close whenever the projects are funded, which she and finance officials estimate would be in 2012.
With high gas prices, many of us are trying to cut back. In City Hall, it has nearly become a mandate. Public Works Director Chris Carrier last week sent out a memo to all city department heads asking them come up with plans to cut their fuel usage by 10 to 15 percent. He said he didn’t specify how they should do that because each department is different. For example, he said, the need to leave a vehicle idling is different for police than for public works.
The catch: the city can’t track gas usage very well. They know how much they buy. Employees file mileage reports. But they can’t see day-to-day, week-to-week usage by each department and employee. So Carrier is asking the city council this week to fund a $1.4 million fuel system that would track gas usage, perform diagnostic tests at the city pumps and help prevent fuel thieves by coding pumps so that they’ll only give gas to authorized vehicles. Council members have grumbled about the cost but appear poised to approve the system Tuesday.
Here’s what’s up next Tuesday (7/22) when the city council meets at 9:30 a.m.: Read More »
Just over a week ago, the City Council voted to use grant money that would have helped fund citywide wireless Internet on a “point-to-point” system that can only be used by city employees. That effectively kills one of Mayor Carl Brewer’s campaign initiatives — at least for now. And it comes nearly a year after council members declined to accept blueprints offered by Azulstar and several other companies involved in spreading Internet access across entire cities.
Now, a new article in The New York Times says that many cities that embarked on widespread wireless Internet have found themselves backing out or frustrated.
“Prices for Internet service on the broader market also began dropping to a level that, while above what many poor people could afford, was below what municipal Wi-Fi providers were offering, so the companies had to lower their rates even further, making investment in infrastructure even more risky.” — Terry Phillis, Philadelphia’s chief information officer, said in The New York Times article.
Following that trend are Azulstar’s problems in Rio Rancho, New Mexico that gave cold feet to Wichita’s council members who loved the idea of mostly-free web access. The company also had problems in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Azulstar was the company Wichita’s tech department recommended, and Azulstar provided piles of research that showed how such a system could work here. But even the city’s tech gurus approached cautiously, based on interviews that happened before the council voted.
Municipal wireless offers one of the most promoted ways to bridge the so-called digital divide that leaves some of us connected to nearly endless information and others left to find information by more traditional means. Libraries seem to be the answer for many people who lack a connection now. But what’s ahead? Did Wichita save some troubles — or miss an opportunity?
The Eagle reported today that Wichita will probably be teetering on the edge of not complying with the stricter new ground-level ozone rules the Environmental Protection Agency approved this week. This morning, The Washington Post is reporting that those new ozone levels would have been lower if President Bush had not intervened and pressed for higher limits.
The Post reports:
“The dispute involved one of two distinct parts of the EPA’s ozone restrictions: the “public welfare” standard, which is designed to protect against long-term harm from high ozone levels. The other part is known as the “public health” standard, which sets a legal limit on how high ozone levels can be at any one time. The two standards were set at the same level Wednesday, but until Bush asked for a change, the EPA had planned to set the “public welfare” standard at a lower level.”
That is being sharply criticized by environmental groups, and it is clear that many scientists said that lower ozone thresholds are necessary to protect not just humans, but wildlife. But it also may be viewed by some as good news for cities like Wichita that will probably be on the cusp of non-compliance when the EPA labels cities for attainment and non-attainment in 2010. Given how close Sedgwick County is to being above the new limits today, even lower limits would greatly increase the area’s chances of losing highway funding and other restrictions.
Another thing worth examining is what the city of Wichita has done. In interviews yesterday, Environmental Services Director Kay Johnson said the city has known for years that ozone levels were flirting with regulatory action. And, she said, the city has continued to ramp up its public education campaigns as well as examine how things are done in City Hall, home to hundreds of taxpayer-funded vehicles and other ozone-contributing equipment.
Among the things Johnson said the city has progressed on are:
- Recent presentations to the Regional Economic Area Partnership about the risks the area faces.
- Broadcast presentations about ozone and associated risks on the city’s cable Channel 7.
- Upgraded most of the city’s bus fleet with more efficient buses. (The Eagle notes, however that the price of riding those buses recently went up.)
- Funding of the Intelligent Transportation System, which is a network of cameras and billboards that, in several years, will line most of Kellogg and I-135 in the central Wichita area. The idea is to divert traffic around accidents and construction that would otherwise leave them idling in the road.
- Completed most of the elevated railroad corridor, which also reduces the number of cars eating gas while trains pass.
The city put out a press release late last night. See that here.
Filling vacancies on the Wichita City Council may soon be slightly less tedious. And if the council has stalemate votes like it did last year, a simple flip of a coin will break the tie. That’s according to a new proposal that the council plans to vote on March 15. Under the plan, council members would cast five rounds of votes in the first meeting in which they’re voting on candidates to fill a vacancy. If they deadlock, they cast five more ballots at the next regular meeting. Still stuck? They cast another five at the next meeting. Still can’t agree after 15 ballots? The mayor flips a coin and the winner gets the position.
Under an earlier proposal, Council members had suggested that the mayor should break the tie. But, given Wichita’s form of government, which doesn’t give the mayor any significant authority that council members don’t have, council members decided not to give the mayor any extra power. Previously, the city attorney had to break a tie. (During the conversation, Council member Sue Schlapp jokingly suggested that “we should flip the mayor.” But the coin ultimately prevailed.)
In June last year, City Council members each cast 20 identical ballots in hopes of filling the District 1 vacancy created when Carl Brewer became mayor. All resulted in three votes for Lavonta Williams and three votes for Treatha Brown-Foster. A week later, the Council on its first round of voting unanimously picked Williams, who will have the position until 2009.
Just seven years ago, City Hall got only 27 percent of their general fund from property taxes. But increasing valuations and growth have bumped the city’s share of that cash to 32 percent of its biggest fund, according to a report delivered to City Council members this week. Meanwhile, almost every other piggy bank of revenue has been slipping. Franchise fees dropped from 20 percent to 17 percent; gas tax (based on gallons used, not the climbing price) has dropped from about 11 percent to about 8 percent; and all that $5.8 million the city used to get from the state is now a big zero because of a change in state law. Also, the money the city gets from franchise agreements with Southwestern Bell have fallen fast as many drop their land lines in favor of mobile phones. Revenue from the phone franchise fees has fallen $2.9 million since 2000, the city’s report showed.
All this has raised the question of whether the city should franchise other services, such as trash. Council members didn’t say a word when city budget analyst Mark Manning posed the question. They also didn’t have much to say when Manning showed that the city would get $60 million a year if it enacted a one cent sales tax. But some cringed at the notion that cities such as Eastborough get a bite ($179,000 for Eastborough) of the county-wide sales tax pie despite not having any known retail activity in their small community. But Council members have repeatedly — dozens of times — rejected any suggestions that the city increase taxes. The Council has raised water and sewer bills, increased court costs and hiked bus fares and the cost of a round of golf at the municipal courses. But it hasn’t touched the mill levy in more than a decade.
To see the city’s quarterly reports, click here.
After two weeks off, the Wichita City Council returns to its Tuesday meetings next week. So what’s up?
They’ll vote on a city manager profile package — AKA what they want in the next big boss. Here’s a peak:
10 years experience in a local government management position or closely related line of work, and a bachelors degree in public administration or related field from an accredited university. That said, they prefer 15 years in the trenches and a master’s degree.
The rest of it is fairly routine stuff about having communication skills to deal with a city council, citizen groups and media. We note this quote because it will probably be the trickiest to find in a candidate who’s been under the microscope for 15 years: “Unblemished record of personal integrity and ethical conduct.”
City Council will also vote on an Arkansas River Access plan that includes some 20 new places to drop a canoe between Hutchinson and Oklahoma. That includes at least three sets of rapids that are created by damns and other obstructions along the way. The city will need other local governments to go along with the plan to make it work, and most of the preliminary discussions appear to have gone well, judging from the council’s agenda reports.
And, once again, the public agenda is stacked with people who want to debate a smoking ban. This week, there will be a presentation of a survey that tells what non-profit groups say about the ban. We’ve already heard concerns that a total ban could hurt non-profits that rely on Bingo contests and other smoker-friendly events for their fund-raising. But other non-profits will likely be concerned about the public health components outlined in medical studies. Council members Jeff Longwell and Lavonta Williams have been working on a compromise. It could be another month before a solid draft emerges.
Wichita City Council members have yet to agree on how they will screen, interview and hire a new city manager. And they’re already working at a slower pace than council members were four years ago when they sought a replacement for Chris Cherches. Here’s a comparison:
In 2003, the city waited only five days after Cherches’ resignation to request proposals from headhunting firms. This time around, it took them 20 days.
In 2003, the city gave search firms just nine days to submit a proposal. This year it’s 44 days. (Proposals are due Jan. 31.)
The city may not be in such a hurry this time because it has Wichita State University professor Ed Flentje filling in. He’s widely viewed as a cautious and competent manager, and many of the city’s top officials finished their public administration masters degrees with Flentje’s final class. Flentje also is spearheading an “environmental assessment” of City Hall, which is supposed to identify any major problems and suggest ways to do things more efficiently.
It’s probably worth noting that in the city’s request for a search firm, it said “while cost of service will be evaluated and considered, more attention will be given to the search firm’s past experience and service in recruiting for City Managers and the amount of time needed to complete the recruitment.”
In 2004, the city hired Slavin Management Consultants for $21,000. It’s unclear what Wichita may pay this year. But late last year, the city of Austin, which is significantly larger than Wichita, hired Arcus Public for $25,000 to produce candidates for a city manager vacancy there.
Wichita City Council members will discuss the screening and interview process again before creating a complete hiring outline. Their next meeting is Feb. 5.
Ever wonder how much the police might spend buying drugs in undercover stings this year? Try about $30,000. Or how about money spent on rent for undercover stings? Try about $33,000.
By its nature, undercover work is not usually part of the public discussion in government. But its budget — or part of it anyway — is public record. The city council will vote Tuesday on Wichita’s annual narcotic seizure fund. It’s a $186,000 pot (no pun) of money that was collected by state, federal and local law enforcement after judges ruled against drug dealers and seized drug money and other possessions.
According to the council agenda report, Wichita’s fund breaks down like this for 2008:
- Undercover buy money - $30,000
- Undercover vehicle maintenance/operations - $30,000 (Example of that came Friday.)
- Undercover fuel - $42,504
- Undercover fleet replacements - $25,000
- Law enforcement training - $15,000
- Undercover rent - $33,000
- Annual audit - $3,000
- Contingency/fund reserve - $7,812.25
- Total - $186,316.25
In 2006, Wichita police conducted 58 “major narcotics investigations, resulting in 145 cases and 80 warrants” according to
the latest city budget.
Detective Bryan Martin and Rex, his Belgian Malinois dog, seized 25 pounds of cocaine and 53 pounds of marijuana. And police seized $266,200 and 12 vehicles associated with drug trafficking, the budget shows.
Former interim city manager Ed Flentje proposed spending another $1.6 million on the Old Town tax increment finance district and then end it two years earlier than expected. Now city council member Sharon Fearey says the district should remain open for a little longer — long enough to fund $750,000 worth of resurfaced public parking lots and security projects. Her council counterparts seem to agree and plan to include those projects in their 2009-2010 budget Tuesday. (Here’s the list of projects… old-town-tif-2008-2012.)
