1 Front
Record The Putnam County
Volume 145 No. 51
Putnam County’s Only Newspaper
Single Copy Cost 50¢
“PRSRT STD.” US Postage Paid No. 486 SHAW MEDIA POSTAL PATRON LOCAL R.R. BOXHOLDER CARRIER ROUTE PRESORT
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
McCracken looks at 2014 budget By Dixie Schroeder dschroeder@putnamcountyrecord.com
GRANVILLE — The tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2014 was presented by Superintendent Jay McCracken at the Putnam County Board meeting on Aug. 19. McCracken reported during the FY 2013, the district was in the black, and for 2014, the figures also look positive. After tax abatement from the
enterprise zone, the incoming revenue will be $4,504,599, an increase of $179,539 from the previous year. The tax rate generating income has gone up .22 percent to 3.96 from the previous year. The Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax or CPPRT is estimated at $2,825.290. McCracken was pleased with this news as he noted this is a major increase from last
year’s income of $2.6 million dollars. “This tax has been very good for Putnam County,” he said. “That amount is more than we have ever received in the history of the district. That is going to help us achieve the balanced budget.” Other revenue streams for 2014 will include $498,099 in state aid and $267,438 in tuition for the 29 Lostant students attending Putnam County
High School. “We love having our Lostant students. They are good students, and we enjoy having them in our district,” McCracken said. Doing more with less, Putnam County Schools’ Title I grants will come in at $89,573 for 2014 compared to last year’s total of $105,380. Title II grants will be $29,767. The early childhood program grants are anticipated to be $220,704 for the
school year. The annual budget hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 in the Putnam County Primary School. In additional business, the board heard a report from McCracken saying while the first day of school went well, the technology for the district went down during the school day. Mediacom, the Internet provider for the district, suffered a
nationwide outage for part of the day. The phone system also suffered problems and was not working on Aug. 19. McCracken wanted to assure parents the schools and staff were not being negligent but were impeded in responses by this problem. President Pro-tem Adrienne Shore led the meeting in absence of President Vicki Nauman and Vice President Kirsten Popurella.
Putnam County Library hosts open house Renovations at Condit branch By Dixie Schroeder dschroeder@putnamcountyrecord.com
PUTNAM — Putnam County Library Director Bobbie Morgan has been busy of late. Morgan hired Susan Devlin, a Putnam resident to work in the Condit branch of the PC Library District. Both women have been giving the library an overhaul. “It’s very exciting for me to see it actually looking like a library,” Devlin said. What she is referring to is the extensive cleaning and rearranging of rooms in the historic Condit House which has served the community most recently as a library. Morgan and Devlin have moved books from room to room, brought in new shelves — which Morgan has stained — to put the books on. “She (Morgan) has made it into a nice area and a comfortable spot for people to come,” Devlin said. “What we have tried to do is match the shelving to the space. Where before you had a shelving unit and then there would be 4 inches here and 4 inches there. Now we have shelving units to fill the wall space, so we are utilizing the space a bit better.” Saving space has
opened up window areas to let more natural light in. This simple idea has given the Condit Library a warm and friendly look in each room. There is now a room dedicated to children’s books and DVDs; a room with a table for computer access and the adult DVDs and books on tape; a fiction room and a non-fiction room. Each room takes the antique furniture like the comfortable chairs and makes a reading area for patrons. There also is a table with chairs in every room for those who want to research and work on projects. “We have these beautiful pieces (furniture), and we want people to be able to see them,” said Morgan. “There’s a lot of talk about the furniture at the Condit house. So we had a computer desk in the main room, and we took it out and put in the post office desk — just little things like that so they are not clumped, and they are in places where they can be highlighted and people can see them.” Morgan received a great deal on the new shelves going into the Condit Library. “I was at a presentation by the Jill Rodriguez from the Bensenville library,”
See Open house Page 4
Putnam County Record photo/Ken Schroeder
Learning to fly Members of Ashley Bush’s kindergarten class learn how to throw frisbees in Kyle Anderson’s P.E. class at Putnam County Primary School.
Solving pump issues in Granville By Ken Schroeder kschroeder@putnamcountyrecord.com
GRANVILLE — The Granville Village Board wasted no time at its Aug. 20 meeting, plowing through the agenda in 10 minutes. However, as has often been the case of late, the main topic was the village sewer system.
Public Works Supervisor Sheli Starkey told the board well pump No. 3 has been shut down for repairs to the system, and the parts for the pump will be here on Sept. 13. However, pump No. 4 needs to taken offline, cleaned and inspected, since it is the same model and vintage as the No. 3 pump. That
measure is being seen as a temporary solution. “It’s a mercury pump,” said board member Randy Borio. “It’s going to have to be replaced.” The cost of fixing pump No. 3 will be $19,400. The estimate to pull and clean No. 4 is estimated around $15,000, although the village can save about $8,000 if both
Inside
Vol. 145 No. 51 One Section - 16 Pages The Putnam County
Record Putnam County’s Only Newspaper
© The Putnam County Record
Nelson Scholarships
PC girls golf tops L-P
See Page 2
See Page 7
jobs can be done at once. The board will make its determination at the next board meeting on Sept. 9. Starkey also told the board the brush has now been cleared from the wastewater treatment plant to School Road. She asked for and was
See Pump Page 4