City commission adopts 2023 budget
The adoption of the 2023 City budget, and a housing study and market analysis by Five Rule Rural Planning were among the presentation and action items at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Concordia city commission on Wednesday.
Following a budget hearing, the commission approved the 2023 budget which calls for budget authority for expenditures totaling $10,421,092 with an estimated tax rate of 52.317 mills. That is a decrease of 4.933 mills from the actual tax rate of 57.250 mills in 2022.
The actual tax rate for 2021 was 57.308 mills.
The assessed valuation of the city rose from $28,852,307 in 2022 to $31,574,604.
City finance director Amber Farha reported that the budget includes a cost-of-living increase of 4.7 percent for all employees.
The longevity pay increases, of approximately $12,894.44, remain in place with the budget improved.
According to the information provided by Farha, there is an estimated nine percent increase in health insurance and a four percent increase in dental costs for 2023.
The budget shows a nine percent increase in both employee and employer rates for health insurance costs and dental rates remain the same as in 2022.
The guaranteed general fund reserve at the end of 2023 shown in the budget is $460,950. That is an increase from the $350,097 shown in the 2022 budget.
The estimated reserves at the end of 2023 is around $800,000.
Upon the recommendation of city attorney Justin Ferrell, the commission approved ordinances 2022-3190 and 2022-3191 which updated the Uniform Public Offense Code (UPOC) and Standard Traffic Offenses (STO). These updates are done on an annual basis to conform city ordinances to state law, with certain exceptions as stated in the ordinance.
The UPOC is designed to provide a comprehensive public offense ordinance for Kansas cities. It does not take effect in a city until the governing body has passed and published an ordinance incorporating it by reference under the authority of and by the procedure prescribed by Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.).
In other action, the commission approved a change order for the Sixth Street Parking Lot project in the amount of $2,328.16. During the process of cutting the ground down to grade as well as Hood Heating & Air's trenching in the lines for the light poles, the crews ran into big chunks of concrete that were either left over from the demo process or unknowingly there. The Orr Wyatt crew ended up having to use more crushed rock to level up the pad for the parking lot. Hood's were not able to use their trencher as planned and had to use a mini excavator instead.
The commission also approved a professional services agreement with Campbell & Johnson Engineers, P.A., in the amount of $7,250. Jeremy Arnold, the city utilities director, reported that Concordia intends to replace a broken water main located under Highway 81 at 19th Street and Lincoln. In December 2021, a water leak was reported at that location and it was discovered that the leak was under the highway. The crews shut off two valves on each side of the road to isolate the leak. This created an undesirable dead end and needs to be remedied.
Bobbi Pettit of Five Rule Rural Planning presented the commission and members of the CloudCorp board the results of the company's housing study and market assessment. Five Rule assessed existing housing stocks, community engagement tasks, and data analysis. 215 residents participated in the survey.
The study reported that 50 supervisors/employers cited rental housing and homes for sale as a factor that was limiting their ability to hire employees.
A total of 2,212 residential structures were counted, and more than 94% of housing units classified as single-family residences. Only 12 of the residential structures were mobile homes. There were 35 residences were counted as NEDU (no evidence of daily use) and 119 residences were counted as vacant-idle utilities and have been unoccupied for more than six months.
Thirteen units were determined to be dilapidated. Many of the structures are on the north edge of town on parcels determined to be located in the 100-year flood zone. The study said, “the dilapidated units in the flood zone should be demolished, with replacement units located elsewhere in the city.”
According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS), almost half of Concordia's residential structures were built before 1940. Based on the number of housing units counted, roughly 1,100 structures will be over 100 years old in the next 20 years.
The study noted that the city should consider replacing one percent of its housing stock yearly to maintain its population. Based on that formula, the city would need to replace 140 units by 2030.
The need for affordable housing is crucial to Concordia's future. The ACS estimated that 23% of the town's households have a total household income of $25,000.
The study's affordability analysis estimated that the city has a surplus of homes valued at $50,000-$100,000 or a surplus of households earning $25,001-$49,999. The city has a shortage of units valued at less than $50,000 and homes valued at more than $100,000.
The study's observations and recommendations determined that there was a need for housing now. The study said that numerous shorter-term opportunities for redevelopment exist within the city's boundary. Among them is the soon to be former site of the hospital. Once the new North Central Kansas Medical Center opens, the former site is roughly six acres that could become the location of approximately 36 new renter or owner-occupied units, based on a medium density standard of six units per acre.
Other possible opportunities are a former nursing home, existing vacancies, the industrial development site on the east edge of the city, and vacant lots.
The study concluded with a strategic plan that provided recommendations for the city commission and CloudCorp. The purpose of the plan is to serve as a place to start to help ensure that CloudCorp and the city commission continue taking steps to positively impact the housing situation in Concordia.