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KS - April 7 2025

Farm Bureau against Trump docking fees; Moran backs tariff oversight; USDA freeze hits Kansas farms; Wichita eyes strong mayor; Prairiefire adds hotel, retail

Greg Loving

07 Apr 2025 • 5 min read

Kansas Farm Bureau Skeptical of USTR’s $1.5M Docking Fee Plan for Chinese Ships

Senator Moran Joins Bipartisan Bill for Congressional Tariff Oversight

Funding Freeze Halts USDA Grants, Impacts Kansas Farms

Wichita Considers Shift from City Manager to Strong Mayor System

Prairiefire Plans KC Hotel, Retail Expansion Amid Financial Struggles

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1. Kansas Farm Bureau Skeptical of USTR’s $1.5M Docking Fee Plan for Chinese Ships

The Kansas Farm Bureau president expressed skepticism Monday about the U.S. trade representative’s plan to impose U.S. docking fees of as much as $1.5 million on Chinese-built ships operating in international water to haul Kansas farm products to market or deliver key inputs for crop production. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer proposed the policy as part of President Donald Trump’s objective of diverting container ship construction from China to the United States. The administration’s policy could impact Seaboard Corporation, a Fortune 500 company based in Merriam, Kansas, that operated Seaboard Marine, a large international shipping carrier. Kansas farmers rely on global shipping to import fertilizer or seed and to export crops. In 2022, Kansas exported $7.2 billion in agricultural products. “We support efforts to increase America’s competitiveness in shipbuilding, but the USTR’s existing plan would raise shipping costs, destroy jobs and make Kansas agricultural products less competitive in global markets,” said Joe Newland, president of Kansas Farm Bureau.
Source: Kansas Reflector

2. Senator Moran Joins Bipartisan Bill for Congressional Tariff Oversight

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas is one of seven GOP senators who joined Democrats in signing onto a bipartisan bill aimed at giving Congress oversight of tariffs. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Church Grassley (R-Iowa), members of the Senate Finance Committee. In introducing the bill last week, Cantwell said, “Congress has a duty to ensure that our country remains competitive and leads in the global marketplace.” Moran is one of 13 cosponsors on the bill that would give Congress the ability to review new tariffs, requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of issuing new ones. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the new tariffs. Congress could also end any tariff at any time. President Trump has threatened to veto the bill.
Source: KWCH

3. Funding Freeze Halts USDA Grants, Impacts Kansas Farms

A freeze on funding is affecting Kansas farms and businesses, and it’s unknown when or if it could resume. Earlier this year, a federal pause on a USDA grant program called the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program stopped the flow of reimbursement funding. Last month, recipients in Kansas received a letter from the Kansas Department of Agriculture, which administers the program in Kansas, that reimbursements are halted and any funds reimbursed after January 19, 2025, could be clawed back. In Kansas, 49 projects were awarded funding totaling more than $5.6 million. The largest project received nearly $1 million, and many others around $100,000
Source: KWCH

4. Wichita Considers Shift from City Manager to Strong Mayor System

As the City of Wichita begins the process of selecting a new city manager following the announced retirement of Robert Layton, discussions are also taking place about what the city would look like if it didn’t fill Layton’s position, opting not to have a city manager and instead having a “strong mayor” form of government. Most U.S. cities with at least 100,000 residents have a city manager. What’s the difference between having a city manager and a mayor with more power? The main difference is exactly how it sounds. Cities like Wichita and Oklahoma City that have a city manager give most of the city’s administrative duties to that person, appointed by the city council. However, cities that don’t have a city manager, including major cities like New York and even smaller cities like Omaha and Tulsa, give that responsibility to the mayor. But is that a realistic possibility for Wichita? The city council will have a discussion on that on Tuesday. Wichita City Councilmember Dalton Glasscock said any changes discussed by the council wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
Source: KWCH

5. Prairiefire Plans KC Hotel, Retail Expansion Amid Financial Struggles

Prairiefire is back on the planning table as the developer of the project looks to add a hotel and additional retail spaces in the sprawling Overland Park mixed-use development. The project, proposed by Fred Merrill Jr. in 2008, combines shopping, dining and a museum along 135th Street between Lamar and Nall avenues — a key Overland Park corridor. Over the years, the development has seen tenants pull out of the site’s buildings and it has struggled to generate enough revenue to meet its obligations under a controversial state incentive tax program. Prairiefire came back to the Overland Park Planning Commission last April, when the commission approved the developer’s most recent proposal to add three buildings on the 61-acre site to house 367,465 square feet of retail space, 39,360 square feet of office space, 444 residential units, and a 90-room Hyatt Studios Hotel. No additional businesses have been named at this time. Overland Park issued $65 million in STAR bonds in 2012 for the Prairiefire development, but the project has struggled to pay the debt off. Last year, Prairiefire defaulted on paying $15 million by its maturity date, which was the first slice of the controversial tax incentive.
Source: Kansas City Star

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