When the City of Wichita fulfills records requests, it should make those records available to everyone.
When governmental agencies like the City of Wichita fulfill records requests, they could also publish the records on their websites. When records are supplied electronically to requestors, this is an additional simple (and low cost) step that would leverage the city’s effort and increase its value.
Some federal agencies do this. For example at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, there is a page titled FOIA Library. An example entry on this page is titled “Executive Orders on Travel Records.” The explanation for this is “Contains all records released in response to requests and/or litigation pertaining to Executive Orders on Travel.” On that page are downloadable documents that were created in response to records requests.
This does not need to be a complicated endeavor. Off-the-shelf solutions like Dropbox and Google Drive are easy to use and inexpensive. Google and other search engines will automatically index the documents.
Posting fulfilled records requests is an easy way for the City of Wichita to start increasing transparency of its operations. Let’s get started, Mayor Whipple.
For the Wichita metropolitan area in December 2019, the labor force is up, the number of unemployed persons is down, the unemployment rate is down, and the number of people working is up when compared to the same month one year ago. Seasonal data shows small increases in labor force and jobs from November.
Data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor, shows a slowly improving employment situation for the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area. (Of note, this data was gathered before the announcements of layoffs at Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita.)
Click charts and tables for larger versions.
Total nonfarm employment rose from 303,600 last December to 305,300 this November. That’s an increase of 1,700 jobs (0.6 percent). (This data is not seasonally adjusted, so month-to-month comparisons are not valid.) For the same period, employment in the nation grew by 1.4 percent. The unemployment rate in December 2019 was 3.2 percent, down from 3.4 percent one year ago.
Considering seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force rose by 288 persons (0.1 percent) in December 2019 from November 2019, the number of unemployed persons rose by 40 (0.4 percent), and the unemployment rate was 3.4 percent, unchanged from November. The number of employed persons not working on farms rose to 301,452 in December from 301,204 the prior month, an increase of 248 persons (0.2 percent).
The following chart of the monthly change in labor force and employment shows the rising trend in employment and labor force over the last eight months.
The following chart of changes from the same month one year ago shows a decline in the rate of growth of both employment and labor force considering the entire year, but with growth returning the past four or five months.
The following chart of changes in employment from the same month of the previous year shows some months when the Wichita MSA performed better than the nation. Over the past 12 months, the average monthly job growth for the nation was 1.58 percent, and for the Wichita MSA, 1.27 percent.
The following two charts show changes in jobs for Wichita and the nation over longer time periods. The change is calculated from the same month one year ago. For times when the Wichita line was above the nation, Wichita was growing faster than the nation. This was often the case during the decades starting in 1990 and 2000. Since 2010, however, Wichita has rarely outperformed the nation and sometimes has been far below the nation.
The profit-sharing agreement for Naftzger Park event management contains ambiguity that could lead to disputes.
Today the Wichita City Council approved an agreement with Wave Old Town LLC for event management in Naftzger Park in downtown Wichita. The agreement was approved unanimously.
While there was controversy over the awarding of the contract (Wichita Eagle reporting is here), others have noticed that the contract is imprecise in a way that could lead to problems.
The city and Wave will share profits and losses based on a schedule in the management agreement contained in the agenda packet for today’s meeting, Item V-2. The issue is when the profit-sharing is calculated.
Profit-sharing agreement for City of Wichita and Wave. Click for larger.
Based on the way the profit-sharing is calculated, different profit-sharing results could be obtained from the same event history. The management services agreement the city council passed today does not speak to this issue. Neither does the request for proposal for event management.
The issue is when the profit-sharing calculation is performed and using which data, as follows:
Profit-sharing could be calculated independently for each event, using data for just the current event. This is illustrated in example 1.
Profit-sharing could be calculated once at the end of the year (or another period) using the sum of events during the period. This is shown in example 2.
Profit-sharing could be calculated independently for each event, using cumulative data for the year (or another period). Example 3 illustrates.
As the following examples show, the differences between these three methods of calculation could be substantial. These three examples assume two events, one with an event profit of $49,999, and the second with an event loss of $49,999. Notice that depending on how and when the same calculation is performed, Wave’s share of profits could be $0, or $25,000, or $49,999. The city could either lose $25,000 or $0.
While these examples are contrived and use extreme values, they illustrate that the agreement the council passed is ambiguous. There could be disputes that could be avoided with careful attention to detail by the city when constructing contracts.
Kansas law requires publication of certain notices in newspapers, but cities like Wichita could also make them available in other ways that are easier to use.
Legal publications in the Wichita Eagle, occupying nearly the entire page.As Wichita’s new mayor takes office, there are a few things the city could do to increase the availability and distribution of government information. An easy project to accomplish would be placing legal notices on the city’s web page.
Kansas law requires that many legal notices must be printed in a newspaper. That law needs to be changed. Newspapers resist this reform, as it might mean a loss of revenue for them. (That’s right. Newspapers don’t print these notices as a public service.)
Although the law requires publishing notices in a newspaper, it doesn’t prohibit publishing them in electronic form. If governmental agencies would make their legal publications available in ways other than the newspaper, citizens would be better served.
The City of Wichita does some posting of legal notices on its website. Under the City Clerk section, there is a page titled “Legal Notices” that holds notices of bidding opportunities. This is good, but the notices that are important to most people are not on the city’s website.
Some of these notices appear in city council meeting agenda packets, where they may be buried in 500 pages of other material.
Posting all city legal notices on the city’s website would be easy to do. It would be quite inexpensive, as the copy is already in electronic form. The notices would become searchable through Google and other methods. Interested parties could capture and store this material for their own use. Once people get used to this method of publication, it will make it easier to get state law changed.
Posting legal notices on its website is an easy way for the City of Wichita to start increasing transparency of its operations. Let’s get started, Mayor Whipple.
Wichitans carry a “Taxpayer Burden” of $1,200 per taxpayer, which is not as bad as many cities.
Truth in Accounting is an organization that works to improve the reliability and transparency of governmental financial information. 1 Annually, it produces a report titled Financial State of the Cities that examines the fiscal health of cities. The report does not take into account economic factors like economic growth, but instead compares a city’s assets with the bills it has accumulated.
Most cities, Wichita included, have a shortfall. The primary reasons for a shortfall are unfunded pension liabilities and unfunded post-employment benefits, called OPEB. TIA explains: “When cities do not have enough money to pay their bills, TIA takes the money needed to pay bills and divides it by the estimated number of city taxpayers. We call the resulting number a Taxpayer Burden and rank cities based on this measure.” 2 The report released this month is based on comprehensive annual financial reports (CAFR) for fiscal year 2018.
In the net, Wichita has a taxpayer burden of $1,200 per person, meaning “If retirement benefits or other costs are not reduced, then taxpayers could have to pay $1,200 in future taxes without receiving any related services or benefits. According to TIA, “Wichita’s financial problems stem mostly from unfunded retirement obligations that have accumulated over the years. Of the $1.5 billion in retirement benefits promised, the city has not funded $257.4 million in pension and $34.9 million in retiree health care benefits.”
Wichita ranks eighteenth among the nation’s 75 largest cities (the rank of one is best.) Wichita earned a grade of “C” along with 27 other cities.
In the previous year, Wichita ranked tenth, having a surplus of $800 per taxpayer.
By the way, the Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA) standard is for cities to publish their CAFRs 180 days after the end of the fiscal year. TIA says it is ideal for cities to publish within 100 days. Wichita published in 179 days.
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Notes
“The nonpartisan mission of TIA is to educate and empower citizens with understandable, reliable, and transparent government financial information. TIA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization composed of business, community, and academic leaders interested in improving government financial reporting.” See https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/page/faqs-2. ↩
How believable are architectural renderings of a Ferris wheel and swimming pool in Wichita?
Over the past year, Wichitans have been presented with architectural renderings of proposed projects. These life-like artistic representations are intended to generate support from clients, be they elected officials, bureaucrats, or voters.
But there’s been a problem. Across the country, some renderings are so vivid, but at the same time totally false, that a term was coined: vaportecture.
We understand that most of these renderings are conceptual. They aren’t meant to have the binding intent of a contract.
But when a feature is so vivid and specific, like a Ferris wheel or in-river swimming pool, people notice and remember these things. Citizens may believe these features are something that is promised to them in exchange for their support.
Click for larger.I think people understand that these renderings are conceptual, especially for a project in the beginning stages of planning. But that wasn’t the case for the Ferris wheel by the new ballpark. That rendering was presented to Wichitans as the project was being debated for final approval. It is plausible, after all, that there could be a Ferris wheel on the riverbank. That’s why showing the attraction when it was not in the plan is deceptive.
On the in-river swimming pool, the Wichita Eaglereported, “Architects behind the vision say it’s meant to get people thinking, talking and dreaming — not reaching for their haz-mat swimsuits.”
Okay, I guess.
Paraphrasing Neil deMause, the author of the vaportecture article, perhaps the intent of these renderings is misdirection. If we’re caught up in the idea of a Ferris wheel or debating the merits of an in-river swimming pool, attention is diverted from the important details of the project.
This feeling of misdirection is especially significant in Wichita. In less than one year, city hall rolled out a ballpark plan with important details concealed until the last moment, and the city awarded a large water plant contract under a cloud of ethical misconduct. Wichita civic leaders need to earn the trust of citizens, and fantastical — and false — renderings like these don’t help.
Wichita leaders want to diversify the area economy. Has there been progress?
In the wake of layoffs at Textron Aviation (875) 1 and Spirit Aerosystems (2,796), 2 Wichita’s leaders shift their attention to the need to diversify the Wichita metropolitan area economy. This has been a recognized need for a long time. 3
One way to measure the concentration of an industry in a location is by the proportion of employment in that industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides employment by industry for metropolitan areas. I’ve gathered the data for the Wichita MSA for two industries: Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing (NAICS code 3364) and all manufacturing. I’ve gathered this data for the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area and compare it to total private sector employment. This data is not adjusted for seasonality, as some are available only in that manner. Data is through November 2019.
As the charts illustrate, there was a large shift in the two industry’s share of employment around the time of the Great Recession. Since then, the ratios have been more stable, with a slow decline until a small reversal of that trend over the last two years.
The chart of employment ratio changes from the same month one year ago confirms: Manufacturing and aerospace employment has grown faster than total private employment for the last two years or so.
Another way to measure the concentration of industry is through location quotients. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides these, most notably for counties as part of the Quarterly of Census and Wages. 4 As described by BLS, “Location quotients are useful for studying the composition of jobs in an area relative to the average, or for finding areas that have high concentrations of jobs in certain occupations. As measured here, a location quotient shows the occupation’s share of an area’s employment relative to the national average.” 5
Further: “For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally, and a location quotient of 0.5 indicates the area’s share of employment in the occupation is half the national share.”
This data is available by industry. I’ve gathered data for Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing (NAICS code 3364) for Sedgwick County and present it in a nearby chart.
First, note that the location quotient is large, averaging around 32 in recent years. This means the concentration of workers in this industry in Sedgwick County is 32 times the concentration nationwide.
Second, the location quotient fell from 2007 through 2014. Since then, it has been steady.
Has the Wichita area diversified its economy? Based on these two measures, the answer is yes. That increase in diversity coincided with a large decline in aviation-related employment, with that decline being larger than the decline in all Wichita-area private-sector employment. That was not planned or desired. It was a result of worldwide trends, most notably the Great Recession.
But since 2014, concentration in aviation-related employment has changed little, meaning no progress in diversification.
