Great Bend City Administrator Logan Burns made the following announcements at Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting.

• Tuesday, Nov. 5 is election day and the City’s half-cent sales tax renewal is on the ballot.

“That is not a new sales tax; it is only a renewal. So our sales tax will stay at 8.7% (if it passes).”

Of this half-cent sales tax:

- 45% of the revenue goes to capital improvements for the fire department. The GBFD Facebook page lists several capital improvement purchases made with the tax since  2014, including fire engines, ambulances, brush trucks and equipment

- 35% goes toward property tax relief

- 20% goes to economic development for their initiatives, along with Christina (Hayes)’s festival retail event. 

• Friday, Nov. 8, the GBHS Panthers football team plays Hays in the next round of 5A playoffs.

• Monday, Nov. 11, City offices will be closed for Veterans Day. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial ribbon cutting will take place at 11 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park. Sen. Roger Marshall will speak.

• At the next City Council meeting, Nov. 18, the staff will present the next step in the tax increment financing district (TIF) process for the development of a hotel and restaurants on 10th St. “We’ll have an ordinance for you to establish that redevelopment district, and then we’ll also have the 2025 master fee schedule, not including the Pool fees that we’ll do a work session on here later this year,” Burns told the council.

• Later this month, Vets Lake will be stocked with 500-600 pounds of trout by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

• The Great Bend Fire Department’s holiday extravaganza is set for Dec. 7. This is a social and charity event that helps the fire department and the community. It will feature a dinner, door prizes and the Colorado Keys Dueling Pianos. For tickets go to the Great Bend Fire Department/EMS Facebook page, https://buytickets.at/gbfdsocialcharity/1395008 or Fire Station One.