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The cost of fixing an oversight in the design of Naftzger Park in downtown Wichita is rising, and again we're not to talk about it, even though there are troubling aspects.

 

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From the Wichita Pachyderm Club: Jeff Longwell, Mayor of the City of Wichita. This was recorded February 8, 2019.

 

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The State of Kansas has 600 million reasons to review its discretionary spending of funds allocated to public and some private organizations. However, policy makers rarely hold any expectations of what the spending should achieve. From Kansas Policy Institute.

 

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Finding out who requested bills in the Kansas House is a little easier than it used to be. Lawmakers used to be able to introduce bills on behalf of anonymous constituents or lobbyists. The Kansas House rules now require that the bill requestor's name appear in committee minutes, though it can sometimes take several days before committee minutes are posted on the Legislature's website. From The Sentinel.

 

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Civil asset forfeiture, or civil forfeiture as it's also known, is a process that allows law enforcement to confiscate private property that's allegedly been involved in criminal activity, and then keep or sell it. ... Kansans can still have their property seized in this manner, but a reform signed into law last year soon will provide transparency on those takings and more reform may be coming. From The Sentinel.

 

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Wichita city officials promote an article that presents an unrealistic portrayal of the local economy.

An article promoting the Wichita economy was noticed and promoted by official City of Wichita sources.

A tweet came from the official @CityofWichita Twitter account and reads "We have been named one of the top two recession-proof cities in the nation by @Livability. Wichita was praised for its ability to withstand turbulence in the national economy, steady job growth and the state's low income-to-debt ratio." 

Since the end of the last recession, job growth in Wichita has been below job growth in the nation as a whole. Generally, job growth in Wichita has been at about half the rate of the nation. In 2017, Wichita lost jobs. Yet, City of Wichita officials tout "steady job growth."

It's not only employment that has been bad news. In 2017 the Wichita economy contracted. Personal income has grown only slowly.

We really must wonder what Wichita officials are thinking and where they get their data.

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The claim of 26,000 workers in downtown Wichita is based on misuse of data so blatant it can be described only as malpractice. 

 

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Despite the mayor's bluster, Wichita mostly lets a company off the hook.

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Troubleshoot why you aren't getting email from Voice for Liberty or other senders.

 

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A document that hasn't been made public details savings achieved in Sedgwick County over a recent period of nearly three years.

An example of a savin gs is this: "Eliminated 6.0 FTEs and associated funding due to the outsourcing of EMS Billing ($304,027)."

Would you like to live in a county where savings like this example are implemented? Would you like to have a manager that does things like this, and much more?

In Sedgwick County, a faction of commissioners fired a manager who did this.

 

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From Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, an explanation of his recent vote, along with insight on current events in Sedgwick County.

In part, Howell writes: "In my opinion, the effort to terminate Yost and Scholes was not based on substantive issues but motivated by personal and political reasons. It may have been retaliatory."

 

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As Wichita prepares to award a large construction contract, let's hope the city acts in an ethical manner this time.

 

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A Wichita Eagle headline reads "Wichita aircraft supplier plans 45 new jobs with $7.5 million bond request," but important information is buried and incomplete.

 

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Census data show Sedgwick County continuing to fall behind the nation in two key measures.

 

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In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Representative Leo Delperdang joins Bob Weeks to discuss the recent election and the upcoming session of the Kansas Legislature. View here. Episode 220, broadcast December 2, 2018.

 

For the second quarter of 2018, the number of jobs in Sedgwick County grew slightly slower than the nation.

For the second quarter of 2018 there were 12,600 establishments in Sedgwick County employing 250,800 workers. That is an increase in jobs of 1.2 percent from the same time the previous year, a proportional rate which ranked 176 among the nation's 349 largest counties. For the same period, the national job growth rate was 1.5 percent. (Ranked by number of jobs, Sedgwick County is the 123rd largest county.)

 

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In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: A look at some economic development incentive programs in Wichita and Kansas. Second in a series. Tax increment financing (TIF) is prominent in this episode. View here. Episode 219, broadcast November 25, 2018.

The Kansas Division of the Budget publishes monthly statistics regarding tax collections. I've gathered these and present them in an interactive visualization. Updated with data through October 2018.

 

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For all metropolitan areas in the United States, personal income rose by 4.5 percent. For the Wichita metro area, the increase was 2.3 percent. Of 383 metropolitan areas, Wichita's growth rate was at position 342.

While the Wichita area has kept up with national personal income growth and even surpassed it in some years, that is no longer the case. Wichita's income has stalled while national income continues to grow.

 

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General Michael Scholes epitomizes "duty, honor, country." I repeatedly saw this demonstrated in the past, as well as more recently as he continues to demonstrate his personal integrity, writes Karl Peterjohn.

 

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In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: A look at 

some economic development incentive programs in Wichita and Kansas. First in a series. View here. Episode 218, broadcast November 18, 2018.

This visualization holds salaries of Kansas school superintendents, principals, and teachers. The visualization shows the average for each of these categories for each school district. The values are adjusted for inflation to the most current year values. Some data is presented on a per-pupil basis using full-time equivalent student counts.

 

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From the Wichita Pachyderm Club: Wichita State University Political Science Professor Mel Kahn speaking on the results of the 2018 General Election. This informative and entertaining presentation was recorded on November 9, 2018. Introduction was by Dalton Glasscock.

 

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The Sedgwick County Commission scandals are an outrage for me. I must speak out against the appalling revelations that provide explicit evidence of illegal misconduct in our county government, writes Karl Peterjohn.

 

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Choosing Freedom with Dave Trabert is an initiative of Kansas Policy Institute, and will air weekly on multiple stations across the State. Choosing Freedom will cover the most pressing issues impacting our personal freedoms in Kansas.

 

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Wichita City Council Member Pete Meitzner (district 2, east Wichita) is running for a position on the Sedgwick County Commission.

He's running on his record of economic development. His website says: "Pete's seven years on the City Council has proven to be a large part of the positive momentum we have recently experienced."

Let's take a look at the record. Click here to view a presentation of the numbers.

From the Wichita Pachyderm Club: Robert L. Bradley, Jr. He is CEO and Founder of Institute for Energy Research, visiting fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, and an adjunct scholar at both the Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His topic at the Pachyderm Club was "The Contra-Capitalist Corporation (In Search of Heroic Capitalism)." 

 

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What is the condition of Kansas highways?

 

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A look at actual spending on Kansas highways, apart from transfers.

 

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Charts of Kansas school spending presented in different forms.

One of the most important charts shows state spending per-pupil, adjusted for inflation. It shows the total of state and local spending, which is useful because in 2015 the state made a change in the way revenue is allocated between state and local sources. It also shows base state aid per pupil, which is an important number as it is the starting point for the school funding formula.

Why is total state and local spending higher than base state aid? Weightings add to the base to compensate school districts for things like at-risk children, English language learners, and other items. These weightings have grown over time, so as base state aid has generally fallen, total spending has generally risen.

A second chart shows the ratio of total state and local spending to base state aid.

This is not simply a technical matter. In discussions of school policy, sometimes only the base aid figure is used. As it has fallen, some formulate an argument that school spending has been cut. That is easily refuted by looking at total state and local spending.

 

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In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Author Lenore Skenazy talks about today's children and the free-range kids movement. View here. Episode 212, broadcast October 7, 2018.

A look at some of the large economic development programs in Wichita and Kansas.

Here's video of a presentation I gave at the Wichita Pachyderm Club this week on economic development incentives. The video was produced by Paul Soutar of Graphic Lens. View here.

The Wichita economy shrank in 2017, but revised statistics show growth in 2016. For 2017, the Wichita metropolitan area GDP, in real dollars, fell by 1.4 percent. Revised statistics for 2016 indicate growth of 3.8 percent for that year. Last year BEA reported growth of -1.4 percent.

 

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An interactive visualization of gross domestic product by metropolitan area and industry. An example from the visualization compares Wichita metro GDP growth to that of the nation's metropolitan areas.

 

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Must the City of Wichita spend its share of Sedgwick County sales tax proceeds in a specific way?

Excerpt: We often hear that half the city's share of the sales tax is pledged for Kellogg construction. In actuality it is pledged to "Wichita road, highway and bridge projects."

But really, it isn't even pledged to that. The pledge is in the form of a city ordinance. It may be changed at any time at the will of four council members.

Yes, the ordinance says the city intends to continue using the tax revenues in the same way "as a matter of faith and trust." Unfortunately, that trust has been destroyed in many ways, one being council members who tell us things that aren't true.

 

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It may be very expensive for the City of Wichita to terminate its agreement with the Wichita Wingnuts baseball club, and there are questions.

 

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Among nearby states, Kansas collects a lot of taxes, on a per-resident basis.

 

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We have a lot of neat stuff in Wichita. Other cities do, too.

Excerpt: It's great to love your city. But we can't afford to be lulled into complacency - a false recognition of achievement - when all the data says otherwise.

 

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As part of an ongoing transparency project, I asked the City of Wichita for check register data. I've made the data available in a visualization using Tableau Public. This visualization is updated with data through August 31, 2018.

 

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Kansas has nearly the highest number of local government employees per resident, compared to other states.

For all local government employees, Kansas had 50.59 per thousand residents in 2016, higher than all states (and areas) but the District of Columbia and Wyoming. These employees had an annual payroll of $2,141.16 per resident. Ten states were higher.

 

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A recent editorial by the largest newspaper in Kansas misinforms its readers. Opinions may vary on spending more or less on schools. But our state's largest newspaper isn't giving its readers the information they need to form an informed opinion.

 

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A look at ranked-choice voting and how it might have worked in the Kansas Republican gubernatorial primary election in August 2018.

 

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An interactive visualization of spending by Kansas school districts.

 

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Recently Kansas Policy Institute, along with Americans for Prosperity and Kansas Chamber of Commerce, held a series of briefings for candidates for the Kansas Legislature. The presentations in Wichita were recorded, and are available here:

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Kansas has a lot of government employees when compared to other states, and especially so in education.

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If Kansas government doesn't have enough money to meet spending requests, it's not for the lack of collecting taxes.

Airport traffic data presented in an interactive visualization, updated through 2017. A few observations regarding Wichita airport traffic as compared to the nation:

• Since 2014, passenger traffic at the Wichita airport is slightly higher, while rising sharply for the nation.
• The number of departures has been declining in Wichita, while level and now increasing for the nation.
• The number of available seats on departing flights from Wichita has been mostly level, while rising sharply for the nation.

To view and use the interactive visualization, click here .

Sedgwick County jobs

Sedgwick County had fewer jobs in 2017 than in 2016.

From December 2016 to December 2017 Sedgwick County employment was level, changing by 0.0 percent. According to the BLS news release, that ranked 317 of the 347 largest counties.

Using the monthly average job count, Sedgwick County had 248,772 (monthly average) jobs in 2016. For 2017 that fell to 247,022, a decline of 1,750 jobs or 0.7 percent.

As can be seen in the chart of change in job levels, 2017 continues a trend of slower job growth in Sedgwick County, with the growth trend turning negative.

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There has been much public and private investment in Downtown Wichita. What has been the trend in business activity during this time?

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Despite promises, Wichita fails to inform citizens on important activities of its government.

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An interactive visualization of tax collections by state governments.

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Census data shows that some counties in Kansas are growing faster than others. In the chart, we can see that some Kansas counties are doing better than others. Notably, Sedgwick County shows a decline in employees and payroll in 2016.

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As in years past, a truthful accounting of the finances of Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita shows a large loss.

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The City of Wichita property tax mill levy declined for the second year in a row.

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Employment in metropolitan areas

An interactive visualization of labor force, employment, and unemployment rate for all metropolitan areas in the United States.

The example from the visualization shown below shows the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area and All Metro Areas. Data is through January 2018. Of note regarding Wichita:

• Since the Great Recession ended, the unemployment rate in Wichita has fallen, as it has nationwide.
• At the same time, employment (the number of people working) in Wichita, has been steady or rising slightly. Nationwide, employment has been growing.
• At the same time, the civilian labor force in Wichita has been mostly falling, while rising nationwide. 

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Following the Wichita Mayor, the Chair of the Sedgwick County Commission speaks on economic development.

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A column written by Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell ignores the reality of Wichita's economy.

Excerpt: I sincerely hope the mayor is not aware of the poor performance of the Wichita-area economy. Because if he is aware, and he promises to "continue our growth pattern," we're in for continued trouble. Did you know that the Wichita-area economy shrank from 2015 to 2016? That is, we produced fewer goods and services in 2016 than in 2015, after accounting for inflation. Is this the growth pattern the mayor promises to continue?

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There is a movement to increase the transparency of government in Kansas, but there's much to be done, starting with attitudes.

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Wichitans might be surprised to learn the cost of cultural attractions. The price of adult admission to the Wichita Art Museum is $7.00, or free on Saturdays thanks to the generosity of Colby Sandlian, a Wichita businessman.

But the cost of admission is much higher. For 2016, Wichita city documents report a cost per visitor of $54.71

 

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Wichita city hall failed to uphold the terms of a development agreement from five years ago, not monitoring contracts that protect the public interest.

Beyond this, we now know that neither the city nor the WaterWalk developer followed the terms of the deal. The annual reports were not supplied by the company, and they were not requested by the city. As it turns out the annual reports purport to show that the city was owed no money under the profit sharing agreement.

But that's not the point. The issue is that the city did not enforce a simple aspect of the agreement, and the private-sector company felt it did not need to comply. Taxpayers were not protected, and we're left wondering whether these agreements were really meant to be followed.

 

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Critics of school choice say there is no accountability outside the traditional public schools. Here are the standards Kansas used to hold its schools accountable.

 

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