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WEDNESDAY
2015
January 21, 2015
Your Hometown Paper Serving Beaman, Conrad, Liscomb, Union & Whitten
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Beaman council approves three percent raise for city employees By ROB MAHARRY The Record BEAMAN- Employees of the city of Beaman will receive a three percent pay increase after a proposal for a raise was approved at last Wednesday night’s meeting. Currently, the city has two regular part-time employees (city clerk Lavonne Sternhagen and maintenance man Randy Daniel) and three other part-time maintenance employees when needed. During discussion of the matter, it was noted that the city of Conrad had recently approved a four percent raise for its employees, and the Grundy County Board of Compensation recommended a four percent raise for county employees. Councilman Dave Moorman pointed out, however, that the national average of raises for municipal employees is just 2.9 percent and recommended a three percent increase.
“That’s what the average is. We’re not special,” he said. After a fairly lengthy discussion, councilman Brian DeSilva made a motion to approve a three percent raise, and it passed with unanimous support. In other business, council members and mayor Ann Smith all agreed to serve on the same committees that they sat on last year: Smith will serve as a delegate to the Grundy County Development Alliance and the 911/ emergency management committee, Brenda Heitmeyer will serve on the park committee, Deb Ashton will serve on the park and finance committees, Moorman and fire chief Bryan Moeller will serve on the public safety committee and DeSilva and Jason Scafferi will serve on the streets committee. The council also See COUNCIL ...continued on page 2
Supervisors approve 2.8 percent salary increase By JOHN JENSEN The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER — Grundy County elected officials and those who work for them will receive 2.8 percent salary increases in fiscal year 2016. That was the decision of the County Board of Supervisors, Monday, who reduced the original 4 percent recommendation made by the County Compensation Board by approximately 30 percent. In addition to the salary increase, officials will pay the same as the previous year for insurance. The 2.8 percent increase is close to the increase officials had requested from the compensation board. County Auditor Rhonda Deters, one of those whom the decision affects, appeared pleased with the decision. The vote to pass was 4-1 with Su
pervisor Jim Ross opposed. Ross did not speak against the proposal and did not elaborate on his vote. Much of Monday’s meeting was devoted to budget requests from various county departments. County Engineer Gary Mauer reviewed his department’s budget request, which includes funding for five bridge projects, two of which will be paid for with FEMA funds. Mauer said he hoped to be able to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds from the Wellsburg Wind Farm to fund a sixth bridge project as well as to assist with a $3.2 million asphalt overlay. This sparked a debate on whether the supervisors would support creating a TIF district at the wind farm, with opinions as See SUPERVISORS ...continued on page 2
BCLUW students chosen for Karl King Honor Band
Five BCLUW Middle School students were selected to attended the Karl L. King Honor Band on January 17, 2015 in Fort Dodge Iowa. Emma Hoveland played in the Sixth Grade Band, and Nasaria Tupper, Jada Campbell, Sage Lewis and Deidra Green played in the Seventh Grade Band. Each band had over ninety members selected from thirty-nine area schools. The guest directors were John Aboud and Dan Cassady, both retired band directors from Iowa. (Photo courtesy of David Bartling)
The Record’s Index Church..............5 Classifieds........6 Legals...............6
Movies.............3 Obituaries........5 Opinion............4
CONRAD, IOWA 50621 - U.S.P.S. 129-760
VOLUME 134 NUMBER 36
Petty to state legislators: set a sustainable SSA By ROB MAHARRY The Record CONRAD- As the latest legislative session has opened in Des Moines and Governor Terry Branstad took his oath of office for a record sixth time, eyes from across Iowa are on Ben Petty the statehouse. BCLUW and GMG Superintendent Ben Petty is a particularly interested observer, and he recently spoke to The Record about his advocacy for a higher Supplemental State Aid rate (formerly known as allowable growth) and the negative effects that a lack of funding can have on rural schools with declining enrollments. In basic terms, the SSA is the amount of new money that school districts receive from the state each year to cover the costs of things like day-to-day operations at school facilities, benefits and pay for staff members and textbooks, software and various other school supplies. Due to inflation, these costs have trended upward in recent years, and because the rate is figured on a per pupil basis, some districts with declining enrollments have actually seen a net decrease in funding once their one-year budget guarantee (which is meant to provide a cushion and help districts with declining enrollments to plan for the future) expires. “When you have very low levels of new funds, it makes it extremely challenging for schools- not just rural schools but all schools- and often times leads to staff reductions or reduced amounts available for those supplies and textbooks,” Petty said. At smaller districts like BCLUW, where total enrollment has dropped
by about 50 students over the last 10 years, the SSA can be particularly crucial in maintaining staffing levels and continuing to offer as many classes, programs and activities as possible while facing declining enrollment. In 2011, as the economy struggled to recover from the recession, the Iowa legislature did not allocate any new money to school districts, and despite increases to two and four percent in the years since then, Governor Branstad’s initial budget proposal for this year provides just a one-percent increase in perstudent funding (see the graph for a more comprehensive history of perstudent funding increases in Iowa). Now, with a more stable budget situation and a much stronger economy
in Iowa, Petty wonders why he’s still hearing the same rhetoric from legislators. “State reserves are at maximum capacity of $1 billion, and some legislators still tell us that there’s still no money for allowable growth for schools, or very minimal allowable growth for schools,” he said. “It does make it very challenging when you hear the same thing when Iowa’s economy has rebounded as you did when it was in the depths of the recession.” In addition, state law requires the legislature to set the SSA rate within 30 days of the unveiling of the governor’s budget proposal and for two years in advance to assist school districts in determining their spending levels, but this hasn’t always been
the case as districts have often had to go into process of crafting a budget (which is due to the state by the beginning of April) without any indication of what the SSA for that year would be. A group of organizations known as the Education Coalition, which is made up of the Iowa Association of School Boards, School Administrators of Iowa, Iowa Area Education Agencies, the Iowa State Education Association and the Urban Education Network of Iowa, has recommended a six percent increase in perpupil funding for fiscal years 2015 and 2016, although an identical proposal from last year was not acted See PETTY ...continued on page 2
Show choir to offer sneak peek this weekend
By ROB MAHARRY The Record CONRAD- Community members are in for a treat this weekend as the BCLUW High School Show Choir will be holding the annual Sneak Peek of the 2015 show on Sunday, January 25th in the high school commons with the performance beginning at 6:00 p.m. “The audience will certainly be able to enjoy both a vocal and visual entertaining experience,” show choir co-director Jami Willett said. This year’s theme is easy relatable for the students performing it: it explores teenage attitudes, relationships and social lives with a combination of upbeat crowd-pleasers and slower, more introspective musical numbers. Some musical selections included in the show are "Cruisin' for a Bruisin' (from Disney's Teen Beach Movie), Bruno Mars' pop hit "Lazy Song", "Popular" from the musical Wicked, our version of Reliant K's "Sadie Hawkins Dance", a moving gospel style Ballad "Here's Where I Stand" and a mash up of two famous songs into one selection of "Survivor." The show definitely didn’t come together overnight: the 40 students who are part of this year’s production began rehearsing for it in September, with meetings before school two mornings a week and an additional choreography rehearsal once a month. The past two weeks have been crunch time for show choir
Members of the BCLUW show choir practice their act at a dress rehearsal on Sunday afternoon. The show choir will present a sneak peek of this year’s show to the public on Sunday at 6:00 P.M. in the BCLUW High School commons area. (Photo by Darci Steckelberg/courtesy of Jami Willett) members as they work on the finer details and the final touches of the performance, and they are extremely excited to present the finished product to the public. Willett has been impressed with the group’s progress, and she also touted the benefits of continuity as
several members of this year’s show choir have multiple years of previous experience in performing with the group. "We are very pleased with the progress the kids have made - both vocally and with their choreography/ presentation. This year the leader-
ship provided by the 'veterans' has been extremely helpful given the challenges we have faced,” she said. The general public is invited to the event on Sunday, and the BCLUW Music Boosters will serve light refreshments.
Comet sports Take a look at the highlights from last week’s Comet sports, page 9-10.
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