News

Conestoga leadership willing to spread refund out to help Seward County

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

Seward County property owners received notices in August stating Seward County needed to issue a 25.868 mill increase in order to apply 21 of those mills to a “worst case scenario” refund to Conestoga in the amount of $5.9 million.

Several members of the public questioned the need or even the legality of collecting a potential refund amount in advance of any ruling.

Eventually, Seward County issued a 14.8 mill increase and claimed that slightly more than five of those mills would be allocated to the potential refund even though others have calculated the refund contribution to the budget to only refer to 2 mills of the increase. But representatives of Conestoga said there is no need to plan on making a lump sum payment because they would be willing to spread to refund over time.

Newcomer Riggs takes top spot in USD 480 election

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

The USD 480 school board will have veterans of both the board and the district come the new term next year.

Luz Riggs received the most votes with 978, followed by Sarah Thompson with 686 and Nick Hatcher with 647. All three were excited to hear they had been elected to the board.

“I was very happy and very grateful. I had the support from my family and some financial support from people in the community who supported my campaign,” Riggs said. “I'm thankful I'm part of a community that's so supportive and caring. When I decided to officially run, my goal was just to get one of the spots, that's what I really wanted, and I didn't expect to end up being the top vote-getter. I was very humbled and grateful to be the top vote-getter, it was a great feeling and I can't give enough thanks to everyone who voted for me.”

Parsons tops city commission election

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

Voters have officially decided to retain their current leadership on the Liberal City Commission.

Jeff Parsons ended up the top vote-getter with 969 votes, followed by Janeth Vazquez with 725, and they will serve four-year terms. Matt Landry, who is currently serving as vice mayor, came in third place with 704 votes and will serve a two-year term. Landry was unavailable for comment as of press time.

Parsons and Vazquez said they found out the results of the election rather quickly and said they were both excited about the results.

County sales tax proposal suffers major defeat

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

Seward County voters soundly rejected a proposed half-cent sales tax to help fund county road improvements in Tuesday’s election.

The vote tally was 1,230 votes against the measure with only 427 in support.

The proposed tax needed the permission of the Kansas Legislature to be placed on the ballot, but the issue was a compounded tax increase when paired with the increased valuation for city property owners as well as a massive 14.8 mill increase approved by three of the five Seward County Commissioners.

State rests case in double homicide trial in Seward County

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

Tuesday, the state wrapped up its case, and Wednesday, jurors heard some witnesses in the defense’s case regarding a Liberal man accused of two deaths in 2019.

Prosecuting attorney Russell Hasenbank and defense attorney Luci Douglass had heard from witnesses since Monday, Oct. 27, in Seward County District Court for Pablo Ramon Ramirez.

According to an amended complaint obtained from District Court clerks, Ramon Ramirez was initially being tried on 16 charges, including two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Timothy J. Martin and Erick Gabriel Salas in rural Seward County.