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TUESDAY • APRIL 26 • 2011
New report raises questions about 401(k) plan By John Hanna Associated Press Writer
TOPEKA — Moving to a 401(k)style plan for Kansas teachers and government workers could slow efforts to eliminate the state retirement system’s longterm funding problems, according to a report released Monday
Holmes
Drying out
High: 63
Low: 39
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
that also shied away from taking sides in the Legislature’s debate over pensions. The report, prepared by actuaries for the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, projected lower long-term costs for the state under legislation approved by the Senate last month than under a bill passed
by the House, also in March. The report also said the House plan could lower monthly benefits for retirees. Three senators and three House members must reconcile their chambers’ differences and opened negotiations Monday. The House’s pension bill would put public employees hired after
June 2013 into a 401(k)-style plan, while the Senate’s legislation calls for a commission to study that idea and others. House Pensions and Benefits Committee Chairman Mitch Holmes, a St. John Republican and his chamber’s lead negotiator, went into the talks promising to hold out for a 401(k)-style
KDOT ordered to study K-10 barrier after fatal collision
plan, and did not abandon his stance. The state pension system projects a $7.7 billion shortfall between anticipated revenues and benefits promised to public employees through 2033. Legislators expect to pass a bill Please see REPORT, page 2A
Board takes next step to reshape schools ——
Task force to tackle consolidation plans By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Jayhawks wrap up spring practices On Monday, the Jayhawks ran through their 12th practice of the month. With two more to go before Saturday’s spring game — 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium — things are starting to heat up. Above, linebackers Malcolm Walker (44) and Darius Willis (39) stretch as they run through drills. Page 1B COMMUNITY
Bert Nash honors mental health leaders The Pioneer Celebration for the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center was held Monday. Toots Schultz earned the center’s highest award and three Kansas families were honored. The event also marked Bert Nash’s 60th anniversary. Page 3A
“
QUOTABLE
This is not acceptable behavior. Kansans are better than that.” — Sen. Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan, on Gov. Sam Brownbacks’s plan to close the Kansas Neurological Institute and move its patients into other settings. About 250 opponents of closing KNI attended a meeting on Monday to express their concerns. Page 3A
COMING WEDNESDAY More on the legislative initiative to increase the number of engineering graduates from Kansas universities.
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo
SUPPORTERS OF A PROPOSAL to put a barrier along the Kansas Highway 10 median have placed crosses on the north side of K-10 just east of Church Street in Eudora at the site of an April 16 double fatality. Ryan M. Pittman, 24, died in that wreck after his car crossed the median and collided with another vehicle that was carrying 5-year-old Cainan Shutt, who also died. Tina Hopson on Saturday readjusted a stuffed bear near the marker where the accident occurred. Hopson is the wife of Eudora Mayor Scott Hopson, who has asked the state to install a K-10 median barrier.
Wreck was 3rd wrong-way fatality since August By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has ordered the Kansas Department of Transportation to immediately reopen its study of cable barriers along Kansas Highway 10 in the wake of an April 16 double fatality crash. Eudora Mayor Scott Hopson wrote a letter to Brownback last week asking him to direct KDOT to immediately install cable barriers along the divided highway from Lawrence east to Interstate 435. “We’re pushing for cables, and we plan to keep this going,” said Ali Shutt, mother of 5-year-old Cainan Shutt, who was killed in the recent crash. “We’re very happy that at least
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we’ve gotten this.” In his letter to KDOT Secretary Deb Miller, Brownback ordered her department to immediately begin designing the project to widen shoulders and add rumBrownback ble strips to them along the Douglas County stretch of K-10. The shoulders in Johnson County already have the rumble strips. “While that may not have prevented this crash, it seems like a very important safety improvement. Please immediately begin designing these improvements so that the con-
struction project can be completed by fall,” Brownback wrote in his letter sent to the media by KDOT on Monday. “Even if a decision is made later to install cable median barriers, it will take longer to accomplish that improvement than it will for this shoulder enhancement. So let’s get that going immediately.”
Support for family Cainan, a Eudora preschooler, and 24-year-old Ryan M. Pittman, both of Eudora, died in the crash when Pittman’s eastbound Toyota Camry crossed the grassy median near the Church Street interchange into the westbound lanes and struck a miniPlease see KDOT, page 2A
LAWRENCE ECONOMY
Construction of single-family homes way down By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Signs of a turnaround in the Lawrence housing market have been a little hard to spot recently. During the first quarter of 2011, building permits for new home construction are way down compared with a year ago. Builders in the first three months of 2011 have started 19 new single-family homes and two new duplexes. That’s down from 45 singlefamily homes and three duplexes during the same period in 2010. Fortunately for builders, a couple of areas have seen increased activity, according to the new numbers. During the first quarter, work began on 55 new apartment units, and the number of remodeling jobs in the city increased from 68 to 84. Overall, the city has issued permits for $13.9 million worth of work. That’s down from $16.1 million in the first quarter of 2010. As much as Lawrence wants to have an economy driven by the biosciences
and other high-tech ventures, at the moment the city’s economy is still highly dependent on construction, Mayor Aron Cromwell said. He said it will be hard to say Lawrence’s economy has truly turned the corner until the local construction industry recovers from the recession. “The architects, builders, subcontractors, engineers are still suffering,” Cromwell said. “It is hard to tell them that we’re pulling out of this. I think other areas of the economy are seeing improvements, but unfortunately we have a lot of people involved in the building industry who are not. As the economy improves, I hope construction will come back. That would help us tremendously.” And the slump in the housing industry shows up in new numbers released by the Douglas County appraiser’s office. Preliminary estimates for assessed property valuation totals for 2011 show a slight increase in Lawrence. The tax base is estimated to have grown 0.8
percent — or $6.6 million — from Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 1, 2011. Countywide, assessed valuation is expected to be up 0.9 percent, or about $9 million. The city’s assessed value totals grow either by homes and real estate appreciating in value, new construction that adds new value, or annexation that shifts tax value away from a township and into a city. None of the three has happened in much quantity over the last year. Here’s a look at assessed values in other areas in the county: ● Baldwin City, up 0.2 percent. ● Lecompton, down 0.01 percent. ● Eudora, up 1.2 percent. ● Eudora Township, up 3.8 percent. ● Clinton Township, up 2.9. ● Marion Township, up 2.2. ● Lecompton Township, up 1.3. The totals won’t be finalized until June, after property owners have had a chance to appeal their tax values. — City reporter Chad Lawhorn can be reached at 8326362. Follow him at Twitter.com/clawhorn_ljw.
Appointees to a citizen working group will be charged with figuring out how to trim the roster of six elementary schools in central and eastern Lawrence to either four or three within the next two to three years. And the 27 volunteers will be on the job by July 1. “Let’s get it on and get it done,” said Bob Byers, one of three Lawrence school board members with two years remaining on their terms. “We really need to get this on. It’s time to Byers move, and let’s get it started.” Byers and his six colleagues agreed unanimously Monday night to form the Central and East Lawrence Elementary School Working Group, whose yet-to-be-appointed members will include four from each of six schools previously identified as candidates for consolidation. The members of the working group will be split into two committees, in which they will be able to voice concerns, address issues and form recommendations regarding areas where consolidation is expected: ● Members from Hillcrest and Sunset Hill schools will focus on consolidation in the central part of town. ● Members from Cordley, Kennedy and New York will focus on consolidation in the eastern part of Lawrence. ● The four members from Pinckney School will be split, with two serving on the central committee and two on the eastern committee. ● One member will be appointed at large, to serve as chair. ● Two members will represent Woodlawn School, even though the school was not identified as a consolidation candidate by the Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force, another appointed group whose own eight months of work paved the way to close Wakarusa Valley School at the end of this school year and to call for closing either two or three more through consolidation. Board member Vanessa Sanburn suggested granting Woodlawn a spot at the table, given the school’s relatively small size and concern among some North Lawrence residents that the neighborhood school could get lost in the shuffle. Board member Scott Morgan supported the addition of Woodlawn, describing the expansion as a way to protect the “fragile process” from collapsing under a lack of trust. “If this helps strengthen that trust, it’s worth including,” said Please see BOARD, page 2A