$400,000 in funding has been added to the COVID-19 Basic Needs Assistance Program for mortgage relief. In 2020 the City of Topeka Housing Services Division created COVID-19 assistance programs to help with basic needs for people who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. These federal dollars have been and continue to be a great resource to the individuals struggling in Topeka. The City of Topeka has helped 612 individuals who reside in 476 households since the program started, of those people 42.8% are minorities.

Applications for the Basic Needs Assistance Program were accepted beginning on December 1^st, 2020. 476 applications have been approved so far with $1,322,847in funds having been paid. 96% of the original funds have been committed and expensed for an average of $2,779 per approved household.

“$400,000 in additional funds for mortgage assistance will greatly help those in our community who are struggling to keep their homes. We are focused on helping those most vulnerable people negatively affected by COVID” said Corrie Wright, Division Director of Housing Services.

The Operation COVID-19 Basic Needs Assistance Program is a foreclosure/eviction mitigation and utility prevention shut-off program created by the City of Topeka and administered by the Community Resources Council. An additional $400,000 in CARES Act funds has been made available to qualified applicants to help cover mortgages. The program is by appointment only and applicants must be city residents, have COVID related outstanding bills after March 2020 and make no more than 100% of area median income. Appointments can be scheduled over the phone from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling (785) 233-1365. If the line is busy, leave your name and phone number and CRC staff will call back to schedule an appointment.

 

More information on the COVID assistance programs can be found on the City of Topeka website. https://www.topeka.org/housing-services/covid-assistance-programs/

 

You can view the full report on the COVID Assistance Programs here: HS Report July.pub (cot-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com)

Amanda Stanley has been hired as the City Attorney for the City of Topeka. Stanley was previously general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities. Stanley will start as the City Attorney on August 23^rd.

“I am excited to announce that Amanda Stanley has accepted the position of City Attorney. She has a tremendous amount of experience working with municipalities and will be a great asset to the city,” said City Manager Brent Trout.

Stanley has worked as a licensed attorney for seven years including for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita and for the Kansas Court of Appeals. Stanley was named State League Counsel of the Year for the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA) in 2020 and also received the Kansas Bar Association 2020 Outstanding Service Award. Stanley graduated from Newman University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology in 2008 and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2014.

“Topeka has been my home for more than a decade. I have a passion for local government and I am excited for the opportunity to serve my local community as City Attorney,” said Stanley.

The City of Topeka will be conducting its 2021 Citizen Survey from August 15^th through September 30^th. The survey will be administered digitally through the nationally recognized ETC Institute via phone, mail and the Internet.

ETC will mail the survey and a City-approved project description letter to a random sample of households. Residents will be provided two convenient opportunities to respond: an online link that will be included in the letter and a postage-paid return envelope.

Seven to 10 days after the surveys are mailed, ETC will follow-up with households that received the survey via e-mail and/or phone; the firm’s goal is to achieve a minimum of 400 completed surveys.  A sample of 400 will provide the City results that have a margin of error of +/-4.9 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence. ETC consultants will monitor the distribution of the sample to ensure that it reasonably reflects the demographic composition of the City with regard to age, geographic dispersion, gender, race/ethnicity and other factors.

The survey will compile resident feedback on a wide variety of City programs and services and gather respondent information.

“The City of Topeka Satisfaction Survey is a great tool to help staff identify what we are doing well, along with identifying opportunity for improvement and helping the city to identify budget priorities,” said City Manager Brent Trout. “Citizen engagement is incredibly important and has previously helped the city to strategically invest in our city and improve our quality of life.”

Survey findings will be presented to the Governing Body in November and posted on the City of Topeka website.

Established in 1982, ETC Institute is a Kansas-based company that has administered surveys in more than 700 cities and counties nationwide throughout the previous five years. The firm is a national leader in market research for local governmental organizations and, since its founding, has completed research projects for clients in 49 states, including surveys, focus groups and stakeholder meetings.

WaterShare is a partnership between the City of Topeka, Doorstep, Let’s Help, and the Salvation Army. This program helps hundreds of Topekans avoid a water service shut-off when they are struggling and have trouble paying their water utility bill. You can help your neighbors today by donating as little as $1 each month or by simply giving a one-time donation.

The WaterShare program (previously referred to as Round Up Program) was introduced in 2000 as a means of facilitating convenient monthly charitable donations. Since its creation, the WaterShare program has helped approximately 3,000 City of Topeka Utilities customers. For those who enroll in the program, the donation amount of their choosing will appear on their monthly water bill and all funds collected are distributed to Doorstep, Let’s Help and the Salvation Army to select eligible recipients and administer all funds.  100% of donations will go directly towards helping Topekans in need.

There are three quick and easy ways to start donating.

1. Fill out the short online form at https://www.topeka.org/utilities/watershare/
2. Call 785-368-3111 and speak to one of our customer service representatives
3. Fill out and return the short form which will be included with your August statement

Regarding recent contract negotiations, the City of Topeka is disappointed by the divisive comments made by the Fraternal Order of Police this week. The comments are untrue and distract from the actual issues being negotiated by the parties. Throughout negotiations, the City has offered to make concessions with regard to wages, in exchange for changes to current discipline record retention policies.  The Public Employer Employees Relations Act (PEERA) requires that negotiations between the City and the police union be kept confidential. The City respects the process outlined by PEERA and therefore will not refute individual comments.

However, the City takes seriously its obligations to be transparent and keep the conversation focused on the real issues. Here, the two major, remaining issues are compensation and employee accountability. Regarding compensation, the City has designated public safety as its first budgetary priority; it already makes up 77% of the City’s entire proposed budget for 2022, with the overwhelming majority of that being allocated to personnel.

Recent recruitment and retention challenges are valid concerns shared by the City and FOP. However these are part of a national, systemic issue that cannot be solved simply by increasing wages. The City has fully funded all authorized public safety positions while also remaining committed to holding the line on property taxes.

In prior statements, FOP has failed to address the other major issue in the ongoing negotiations—police accountability. Currently, disciplinary records are removed from officers’ files after two years and not considered for purposes of promotion, progressive discipline, or employment verification requests. This is simply out of touch with standard employment practices.

The next step is a fact-finding hearing under PEERA before a neutral fact-finder. If no agreement is reached after fact-finding, the governing body will decide the remaining issues.

PEERA provides that public employees cannot strike.  Therefore, the parties will continue to operate under the existing contract until either an agreement is reached, or a unilateral contract is implemented by the governing body.

The City is still hopeful that an agreement can be reached.

The City of Topeka is one of four nonprofit organizations selected as grant recipients of the Kansas Digital Equity and Inclusion Collaborative.

The City of Topeka has received $250,000 in funding. The first year of funding is spent planning and engaging with the community, and the second and third year will be spent implementing community-based plans and policies.

“This grant funding is an important step in creating digital equity for our community,” said City Manager Brent Trout. “This is the first step to eliminating the digital divide and creating better educational, economic and health environments for everyone in Topeka through digital access and literacy.”

This grant will support multi-sector community collaboratives to develop and advocate for policies, programs and services that promote greater digital access, adoption, literacy and inclusion among families of color, low-wage worker households and other Kansans experiencing systemic barriers. The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the digital divide, especially in low-income communities of color, rural and other under-resourced areas of Kansas as health services and schooling became remote.

“I am very excited about this opportunity to address any local digital divide issues we face through the support from the Kansas Health Foundation. A great team from across our community worked together to get us to this point, and each bring an individual strength, expertise and a dedicated commitment to using this moment to build out a sound strategy towards delivering digital equity & inclusion in Topeka and Shawnee County,” said Lazone Grays, a member of the digital equity work group.

“We are so very appreciative of the Kansas Health Foundation and their decision to award this grant for the Kansas Digital Equity and Inclusion Collaborative.  Our team of advocates from the City of Topeka and several community partners is so very proud to be help our neighbors access digital resources and to empower them with learning opportunities and support to use those resources for the benefit of their families.  Healthcare, Education, Shopping, Employment, Finance, and other opportunities will soon be available to every family in Topeka, and our community will be better for it!” said Scott Gowan, Chief Information Officer for Topeka Public Schools.

To help Kansas families attain the best possible educational, economic and health outcomes, high-speed digital access and literacy is necessary. This initiative will focus on a two-generation approach, so more Kansas children and adults have the opportunity for digital success in the future.

The Topeka Digital Equity Inclusion Partnership Program will create part-time technical and digital navigator positions to collect and share community-based resources and provide digital literacy training, equipment and basic technical support for minority and low-to-moderate-income communities within 31 Topeka neighborhoods.

Initial policy focus and activities will include:

• Advocacy for policies that support the collective vision of the community and local businesses;
• Advocate for digital equity policies and plans targeted to underserved Topeka residents, including low-income families and people of color;
• Implementation of policies and plans that align efforts with existing federal agency initiatives.

The City of Topeka is proud to share that it has again been recognized for achieving 2021 What Works Cities Certification, the national standard of excellence in data-driven city governance. What Works Cities Certification evaluates how well cities are managed by measuring the extent to which city leaders incorporate data and evidence in their decision-making.

Topeka, has been certified at the silver level as part of WWC’s Certification program. What Works Cities is a national initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies to help cities use data and evidence more effectively to tackle their most pressing challenges.

“I’m proud of our city for being the only city in Kansas to be What Works Cities certified,” said Mayor Michelle De La Isla. “The hard work and dedication by staff has paid off and you can see it in every aspect from the city from the quality of our streets improving to the transparency of our processes.”

What Works Cities Certification assesses cities based on their data-driven decision-making practices, such as whether they are using data to set goals and track progress, allocate funding, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and achieve desired outcomes from contracts with outside vendors. The program also measures whether cities are publicly and transparently communicating about their use of data and evidence.

Over the past year, Topeka has demonstrated measurable progress on these foundational data practices. Some notable examples of the city’s use of data include:

• Performance Management
• Grant Applications
• Transparency
• Street improvements through Pavement Condition Index data collection

The 16 new cities that achieved Certification this year include four cities at the Gold level (Austin, TX; Chattanooga, TN; Detroit, MI; and Gilbert, AZ) and 12 cities at the Silver level: Baton Rouge, LA; Bellevue, WA; Fort Collins, CO; Glendale, AZ; Irving, TX; Little Rock, AR; Madison, WI; Minneapolis, MN; Norfolk, VA; Portland, OR; San Antonio, TX; and Syracuse, NY.

Additionally, three cities that had previously been certified advanced to the next level of Certification: Cambridge, MA (Gold); Memphis, TN (Gold); and Phoenix, AZ (Gold). Four cities renewed their Certification this year: South Bend, IN (Silver); San Jose, CA (Silver); Tempe, AZ (Gold); and Topeka, KS (Silver).

“City leaders are using data to understand and support the needs of residents like never before,” said Michele Jolin, CEO and Co-Founder of Results for America, the lead partner in the What Works Cities initiative. “Throughout the COVID crisis and a historic reckoning with racial injustice, mayors have relied on data to identify and narrow racial gaps, and to make smarter investments that increase opportunity for all their residents. These cities are testing new solutions and measuring what works, rebuilding trust in government by engaging with their residents, and using evidence and data to drive faster progress on their toughest challenges.”

Cities that have achieved Certification in previous years include: Arlington, TX (2020 Gold), Boston, MA (2020 Silver), Boulder, CO (2020 Silver), Cambridge, MA (2020 Silver), Charlotte, NC (2020 Silver), Cincinnati, OH (2020 Silver), Kansas City, MO (2020 Gold), Los Angeles, CA (2020 Platinum), Louisville, KY (2020 Platinum), Memphis, TN (2020 Silver), Mesa, AZ (2020 Silver), New Orleans, LA (2020 Silver), Philadelphia, PA (2020 Silver), Phoenix, AZ (2020 Silver), San Diego, CA (2020 Silver), San Francisco, CA (2020 Gold), San Jose, CA (2020 Silver), Scottsdale, AZ (2020 Silver), Seattle, WA (2020 Gold), South Bend, IN (2020 Silver), Topeka, KS (2020 Silver), Tulsa, OK (2020 SIlver), and Washington, DC (2020 Gold).

Jennifer Park, founding director of What Works Cities Certification, shared, “Since Certification was first introduced, cities have made tremendous progress in their ability to build the data capacity and skills needed to drive their decision-making with data and evidence. This year, cities used data and evidence to guide their response to COVID, address budget shortfalls, reimagine public safety, advance equity, and much more. Data wasn’t just a valuable tool for city leaders –⁠ it was a necessity.”

What Works Cities Certification was developed by a team of experts from Results for America in close consultation with the What Works Cities Certification Standard Committee. To evaluate cities, these experts conducted a rigorous validation process of cities’ Certification assessments and participated in site visits to the highest-performing cities to determine the city’s Certification level.

The program has inspired a movement of cities that are doubling down on their commitment to building the most well-managed local governments possible and using Certification as a roadmap for doing so. More than 200 cities have completed a Certification assessment to have their practices benchmarked against the national standard. The assessment is the first step to receiving exclusive support from What Works Cities to continue building a more effective local government. To learn more about the program and how to participate, visit https://whatworkscities.bloomberg.org/certification/.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is working to help people struggling to keep up with FHA insured mortgage payments due to COVID-19 until July 31^st, 2021. Currently, there are 194 FHA borrowers in Topeka. Anyone with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgage who can’t pay their mortgage because of financial struggles due to COVID-19, can ask for mortgage payment relief (forbearance). Mortgage forbearance is when you have worked with your mortgage servicer to temporarily pause or reduce your monthly mortgage payments.

Until July 31^st, 2021, individuals with a FHA mortgage can ask their mortgage servicer to temporarily pause or reduce their monthly mortgage payments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all homeowners with FHA insured loans can ask for forbearance without any penalty. When working with your mortgage servicer:

• State that you are having a hardship related to COVID-19. You are not required to provide documentation of this hardship.
• Request COVID-19 forbearance for your mortgage payments.
• Ask your servicer to confirm the details of your forbearance agreement in writing.

You are eligible for FHA’s COVID-19 forbearance (mortgage relief) if:

• Your mortgage is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
• You can’t make your payments because you were affected by COVID-19.

If you have a reverse mortgage, also known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, you should contact your mortgage servicer for options available to you.

If you are unsure if your loan is insured by FHA? You can find this information on your mortgage statement or you can call the FHA Resource Center at 1-800-CALL FHA (1-800-225-5342) or email answers@hud.gov.

You can find more information on FHA mortgage relief on the HUD website at https://www.hud.gov/coronavirus/resources_for_homeowners

The City of Topeka Finance Department has posted the 2022 Proposed Budget on the City of Topeka website. The 2022 budget city-wide expense is $339 million. It is the ninth consecutive budget proposal that has not included an increase to the property tax mill rate. The ability to continue to provide the current service levels while not increasing the City’s largest revenue source becomes increasingly challenging. The 2022 Preliminary Budget supports the budget priorities established by the Governing Body: Investing in infrastructure, continuing commitment to public safety, continuing a commitment to developing neighborhoods, selected strategic investment toward quality of life, and improving fiscal sustainability.

The General Fund budget is $98.1 million, a 2% increase. The 2022 Preliminary Budget is available on the City of Topeka website, with the City Manager’s transmittal letter beginning on page 3: https://www.topeka.org/finance/budget/.

New this year is an interactive budget presentation which will debut to coincide with the Governing Body’s budget work session on Saturday, July 10 at 9 am. The site will be available at https://TopekaKS.opengov.com

Expenses exceed the revenue in the Stormwater Fund due to work delayed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The expected $1.2 million revenue shortage is covered through the use of reserves.

The preparation for the proposed budget was made more challenging due to the quick interpretation and implementation of Kansas Senate Bill 13 and House Resolution 2104. These bills now require the Governing Body (GB) to provide an affirmative vote to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) amount from the prior year, regardless of tax base activity. Therefore, the GB must now vote to allow the City’s budgeted property tax revenue to capture tax base growth. In addition, the COVID19 public health emergency has made relying on historical comparisons less helpful.

Budget Highlights:

• The General Fund (GF) revenues included in the FY22 Proposed Budget assumes that the GB will vote on July 13 to hold a public hearing in September to consider surpassing the RNR. If the GB decides not to conduct a public hearing, the budget must be adopted and submitted to the County by August 20.
• Personnel-related expenses represent the largest portion of the General Fund at $76.8 million, or approximately 78% of total expenditures. Personnel costs, including wages and benefits, increased $454,000, or 0.6%, over the 2021 Adopted Budget. Personnel costs include finalized union contracts and assumptions regarding negotiations in progress and a 1% wage increase for non-union staff.
• Property and sales tax collectively make up 64% of the General Fund’s revenue, 30% and 34%, respectively.
• The total proposed revenue reflects 2% growth over the FY21 Adopted Budget. Property tax growth is due to the growth in the City’s tax base. Sales tax is budgeted to be 10% higher than the FY21 Adopted Budget and 5.3% higher than FY20 Actuals. The FY21 Adopted Budget was developed during the unprecedented period following the public health emergency declaration when significant uncertainties loomed over national and local economies. However, the local economy proved to be far more resilient than initially anticipated. As a result, the current FY21 sales tax projection reflects a higher year-over-year growth. The FY21 Proposed Budget assumes that FY21 will reflect a 3% drop compared to FY20 and that FY22 will grow 2.9% from the revised FY21 expectations. The largest growth area is expected to occur in the compensating use tax category due to more online transactions and more active collection of this revenue by the State.

Topeka’s drinking water is currently experiencing an issue with taste and odor. Recent rainfall and releases from reservoirs have caused a river flow and turbidity increase in the Kansas River. Topeka’s water comes from the Kansas River and occasionally the river has unusually high levels of organic matter which can cause taste and odor issues. The water continues to meet all of the drinking water standards established by EPA and KDHE and is safe to drink.

The water is currently being treated by the City of Topeka’s multiple barrier water treatment process. The City of Topeka will continue to monitor levels of taste and odor in the drinking water. Questions can be directed to the City of Topeka call center at 368-3111.