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B1 Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Burlington and Hebron E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, J u l y 1 6 , 2 0 0 9
Marty Herbert at the Boone County Senior Center
jbduke@nky.com
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Northern Kentucky residents have made their choice for the very best in The Community Recorder’s first Readers’ Choice Awards. We’re counting thousands of votes and will announce the winners in a special publication in August. Winners of the Kings Island tickets won’t have to wait, however. Those local residents will be announced in next week’s Boone Community Recorder.
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Boone gets land for next school By Justin B. Duke
Volume 6 Number 24 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COMMUNITY RECORDER
The site is selected for the next school coming to Boone County. Boone County Schools Board of Education approved the contract to purchase 17 acres of land in the Thornwilde subdivision in Hebron for $1,023,000. “This will allow us to move forward with our next school and
relieve some of the crowding at North Pointe and Goodridge,” said Superintendent Randy Poe. The site will be an elementary school set to open for the 20122013 school year. The project will likely get under way shortly after the completion of the new elementary school on Longbranch Road, Poe said. The land for the school was set aside by Drees, the developer of
Thornwilde, for the district. When the subdivision was going through approval from the Boone County Planning Commission, Poe served on the commission. As a condition of approval, Drees agreed to sell a portion of the land to the district, said Gerald Dusing, the district’s attorney. The deal was sweetened for the district because the purchase price includes grading the land, prepar-
ing it for construction, said Deputy Superintendent Mike Blevins. When the district purchased the land for Mann Elementary it paid for grading separately and ended up spending close to $1.5 million total as opposed to $1 million for the full package, Blevins said. “We’re getting the dirt for free basically,” said Board Member Ken Cook.
Win up to $500 cash! July 13-20, we’re giving away $75 a day and two grand prizes of $500 each. Check the site to see if you’re a winner! More info: MomsLikeMe.com/ cincycontests.
Cook featured
Tracey Bright, of Florence, is featured in the fourth Cincy MomsLikeMe.com cookbook sponsored by bigg’s. The cookbook features 27 recipes from local chefs ranging from summertime appetizers and entrées to desserts. Bright’s contribution to the book is her cranberry summer salad with homemade balsamic dressing. – LIFE, PAGE B1
Summer school adds fun twist
Boone County Schools is giving summer school a new twist. Seven of the district’s elementary schools are offering summer school as a form of intervention to students at risk of falling behind. Funding for the program included some federal stimulus money. – SCHOOLS, PAGE A6
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PAUL MCKIBBEN/STAFF
Boone’s gardens are a hit
Burlington resident Bob Hixson points to some broccoli growing in his garden at the Boone County Dog Park in Burlington. The Boone County Parks and Recreation Department allows residents to rent a 20-by-40 space for $25 a year. There is a waiting list for next year. Spaces are filled for this year. Hixson grows other crops such as fennel, peppers, collard greens and corn.
Software vendor admits tax roll error By Paul McKibben pmckibben@nky.com
Boone County Property Valuation Administrator Cindy Rich showed a letter from her office’s software vendor during the July 7 Boone County Fiscal Court meeting to demonstrate that computer errors were responsible for her office miscalculating the county’s property tax roll. John R. Hansen, vice president of Manatron Inc., told Rich in the letter that based on the company’s findings there are almost 200 parcels that were incorrectly classified as inactive within the system and as a result, these parcels weren’t included in the roll. “It is regrettable that this situation occurred but also important to note that issues like this are not uncommon during the first couple of assessment rolls on a new CAMA (a type of appraisal com-
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puter software) system,” he wrote. “It does not appear that these omissions were intentional, either on Manatron’s side or that of Boone County. Rather, they appear to be the result of software idiosyncrasies that were discovered ... .” Rich has said Fiscal Court staff found there were about 150 commercial properties that the officials couldn’t find when they compared the tax roll to last year’s tax roll. Properties missing included the Florence Meijer store. She has blamed this mistake on computer error. Commissioner Charlie Kenner at Fiscal Court’s June 23 meeting requested that Fiscal Court get an explanation from the PVA’s office. He has doubted Rich’s explanation. Rich’s portion of the July 7 meeting was tense.
“It is regrettable that this situation occurred but also important to note that issues like this are not uncommon during the first couple of assessment rolls on a new CAMA (a type of appraisal computer software) system. It does not appear that these omissions were intentional, either on Manatron’s side or that of Boone County. Rather, they appear to be the result of software idiosyncrasies that were discovered ... .”
John R. Hansen Manatron Inc.
At one point, Rich asked Kenner to read the letter out loud. Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore interjected and told Rich that if she wanted to make a statement to the court that is fine but they are really not here to have a debate. Rich said she was just asking if Kenner would like to read the letter. She asked him if he would like her to read the letter or if he would care to read it himself.
Kenner said if she really wanted to address this she would have given him a report ahead of time like he asked for two weeks ago. “I don’t intend to be a part of these personal attacks on me. I also answer to the taxpayers. That’s why I bring these things up Cindy,” he said. “Don’t personalize this.” Rich responded by saying, “I think you personalized this two weeks ago.”
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