The CAM School Board Monday evening, passed the district’s budget guarantee resolution, during the Board’s regular meeting. CAM Business Manager Linda Edwards says “Our tentative budget is set at 0% allowable growth (state supplemental aid) because the legislature hasn’t acted on this yet. At 0% we are eligible for the budget guarantee and our property tax rate is higher.” Edwards said a statement was added to the resolution in reference to the situation.

The levy (tax asking) for the CAM District is $9.26 per thousand dollars taxable valuation, which is about a penny less than last year’s rate. The FY 2016 Budget for CAM amounts to $11.75-million. A public hearing on the budget will take place 6:30-p.m. Tuesday, April 14th, just before the Board’s regular meeting.

In other news, Edwards said the Board accepted the retirement resignation of Becky Pelzer, who has been with the district for 38-years. She currently serves as the North Elementary Resource Room Instructor. And, the CAM Board approved a tennis sharing agreement with the Atlantic School District for two Foreign Exchange students, who wanted to become involved in the sport. The teens will be required to provide their own transportation, but a person with the Atlantic School District has offered to handle those arrangements.

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund recently donated to the ANRC’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Fund spokesperson and Trevor’s mom, Melanie Petty, says “We are thankful for all of the hard work that the staff and residents of Atlantic Nursing and Rehab provide for this wonderful event for our community.”

Ann Smith with ANRC and Darrin Petty of the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund. (Photo submitted by Melanie Petty)

Home prices and the number of homes sold across the state both rose last month compared to February of 2014, according to the Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR). A total of 1,971 homes were sold in February. That’s up from 1,877 homes in the same month one year ago. IAR president Jon Yocum, of Dubuque, says homes are selling quickly. “Our inventory is still very much behind where we would like it to be, but the sales prices are up and days on the market are down, so that means there are a lot of active buyers looking to make it good for an active seller to consider putting their home on the market,” Yocum says.

The median sale price last month was $128,916 compared to $119,900 last year. “The sellers are getting the price they’re asking for their home,” Yocum says. “For anybody thinking of selling their home right now, the market isn’t going to be any better than it is today.”

In February of last year, the average days on market was 103 days. Homes sold last month were on the market for an average of only 94 days. Yocum expects sales activity will continue to climb over the next few months. “The first two weeks of March have been very busy. A lot of agents and realtors across the state have been very busy marketing properties,” Yocum says.

A relatively new federal program — requiring a down payment of just three-percent for qualified buyers — is helping spur home sale activity in the state, according to Yocum.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston report a Nebraska man was arrested Monday morning, on drug charges. 26-year old Justin William Miller, of South Sioux City, NE., was arrested at around 11-a.m. for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Controlled Substance. Miller was later released on $1,000 bond.