The Harlan Community District’s Board of Education has approved their Fiscal Year 2015 budget. In a meeting held Monday, Director of Finances Brian Gubbels gave the presentation during the public hearing. Superintendent Justin Wagner pointed out several positive takeaways from the projected budget. “The levy is going to drop from $11.74 to projected 11.59. The unspent authority is at $8.2 million which is the highest in the Hawkeye 10 and one of the highest in the state will drop. This budget is built to where it will tick down at a slow controlled rate. The allowable growth percent is set for next year at 4 percent which is good news. And then what we call miscellaneous things always go into the budget. We have eight early retirements. Sometimes we can hire folks for less money and sometimes we can’t. If there are cost savings, we have operational sharing dollars that are committed to us. That’s kind of the last take away from the miscellaneous moving targets.”

The district’s general fund levy rate will see a decrease in taxable valuation from $9.84 per $1,000 to $9.62 for Fiscal Year 2015. The Management Fund levy will increase 7 cents to $0.97 per $1,000 and the PPEL fund levy stays the same at $1.00 per $1,000. Gubbels told the board the district is not levying a cash reserve levy for Fiscal Year 2015, however at some point in the future, the district will have to levy cash reserves. In other business, the school board approved a tentative agreement with the Harlan Education Association or HEA for a total package increase of 4.26 percent.

“This is a base salary increase of $1,150. The district will also pick up the health insurance increase of a little over 4 percent this year.” Wagner said getting the agreement done early shows the district takes care of their staff. “The real benefit to approving this is settling early which means we appreciate staff and settling slightly higher than the state average. It will be high 3’s or low 4’s. This will be a tick higher and shows we really appreciate people.”

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports charges have been filed in connection with a double fatal accident that occurred on Highway 44 four-miles east of Kimballton on Sept. 27th, 2013. 42-year old James David Gibson, of Panora, faces charges that include Driving Left of Center (with enhanced penalty), and Speeding 10 miles per hour or less over the limit (with enhanced penalty). Killed in the crash, was 79-year old Doris Akers and 82-year old Harold Akers, both of Exira.

An investigation by the Iowa State Patrol concluded Gibson was traveling west in a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup when the vehicle’s tires made contact with the south fog line and rumble strips in the eastbound lane, before Gibson attempted to return to the westbound lane. The Akers van was traveling east on Highway 44 when the vehicles collided. The Exira couple died at the scene.

Gibson suffered minor injuries during the crash. Officials say neither alcohol, drugs, weather or seat belt use were factors in the crash.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new study shows higher rates of smoking in rural Iowa counties.  The Des Moines Register reports that the study says some Iowa counties have double the smoking rates of others.  The national report from the University of Washington says Iowa’s Dallas County had the seventh-fastest decline in smoking from 1996 through 2012, when it went from 19.4 percent to 10.9 percent.

The report also shows that all Iowa counties have had declines in smoking. The researchers used data from phone surveys taken for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.