(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Public Hearing with regard to the Atlantic Community School District’s (ACSD) Certified Budget, will be held 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, April 12th, in the High School Media Center. During the Board’s Special Meeting March 29th, Superintendent Steve Barber and Director of Finance Sarah Sheeder reviewed the proposed certified budget for the 2023-24 school year, with a total property tax rate of 13.00317 per $1,000 taxable valuation. That is a decrease from the 2022-23 property tax rate of 13.25506, or about 26-cents per thousand.

During the Board’s regular meeting to follow the Public Hearing, they will act on resignations, including: Lenzi Robinson, 5th Grade Teacher; Sarah Sheeder, School Business Official/Board Secretary, and Lori Hayes, Paraeducator. They will also act on approving Superintendent Barber’s contract recommendations for: Nathan Block – 6th Grade Science Teacher; Mikayla Stockhaus – HS Vocal Music Teacher; Brett Johnson and Caroline Pellett – MS Softball Coaches.

Action items on the Atlantic School Board Agenda include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Approving the 2023-24 Certified Budget
• Setting May 10th at 5:30-p.m. as the date/time for a Public Hearing on a Certified Budget Amendment (amounting to an increase of $793,569). School officials say the amendment will NOT result in an increase in taxes. A detailed statement of additional receipts, cash balances and proposed disbursements will be available for public viewing at the hearing.
• Approval of a 2023-24 Operational Sharing Agreement with the Griswold School District, w/regard to Transportation Director, and
• Approval of 2023-24 Activities Sharing Agreements for: boys swimming (Audubon, Clarinda, Red Oak & Riverside, w/Atlantic as host); girls and boys soccer (CAM & Exira-EHK, w/Atlantic as host); and girls wrestling (CAM, Nodaway Valley & Griswold). There is no change from last year, with the exception of Atlantic serving as the host for girls wrestling.
• The Board will act on approving 2023-24 Non-Certified Staff Master Contract Agreement (Which includes the following increases: $2.75/hour for Bus Route Drivers & Bus Asst. Mechanic; $0.90/hour for all other Support Staff).
• The School Board is expected to pass a Resolution approving the Plans, Specifications and Form of Contract for the H.S. Storage Shed (estimated cost $190,000), followed by the awarding of a contract for the shed. Bids are due by April 12th….and,
• A Resolution approving the Contracts and Bonds for the Washington Elementary School Playground Project. Last month, the School Board awarded the project to Caliber Concrete, LLC, of Adair. The project cost amounts to $579,422.58.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T continues to see trends in rail traffic that show economic challenges. Stuart Anderson gave and update to the Transportation Commission. “The rail carloads continue to be down both on a monthly basis comparing March of this year with s March of last year — but also year to date. You can see it’s down point-three percent,” he says. Anderson says grains shipments are one area where things have been down. “Although I think there is some information from U-S-D-A that they do feel like there is with increased export agreements with China that they expect that trend to shift here in the coming month,” Anderson says. He says the intermodel shipments from ports into Iowa are also down. Anderson says there is one bright side on the rail shipping front.

“Motor vehicle shipment on rail cars continues to be higher than we’ve seen in the last year, which is is a good time that people are still buying cars,” Anderson says. His report also shows the drop in travel on the roadways in December and January was likely due to winter weather, as things have picked back up. “We would say overall the travel is generally back to the pre pandemic levels. But still with those shifts that we’ve talked about in the past — where municipal traffic continues to be a little down and rural traffic a little high, just reflecting the more teleworking that’s happening across workforce,” Anderson says.

Anderson made his comments in a work session prior to today’s (Tuesday) Transportation Commission meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – With the federal tax filing deadline now one week away, a University of Iowa accounting professor suggests America adopt what’s being done in many European countries, where the government prepares your taxes for you — for free. Professor Ryan Wilson says our current electronic filing process is automated, so it wouldn’t be a great stretch for the I-R-S to go the next step and prepare our taxes, too. Wilson says the government already has most of the information it needs to pre-populate tax returns, and those with more complex investments could always opt out. For the majority of Americans, Wilson says it would reduce anxiety while saving time and money.

He says a program called ReadyReturn is already being used in the U-K, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, where the government prepares its citizens’ taxes. In some countries, you get a text from the government and if you text back ‘YES,’ then you’re done.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man this (Tuesday) morning. 37-year-old Brian Paul Anderson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the vicinity of 1660 E. Summit Street, at around 4:22-a.m. He was charged with OWI/1st offense. Anderson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a former Republican legislator to lead the Iowa Utilities Board. Current Iowa Utilities Board chair Jeri Huser will remain on the board, but the governor has appointed Erik Helland to take over as chair in May. Helland, who is an attorney, served two terms in the Iowa House representing the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. Helland will lead the Iowa Utilities Board as it considers applications for construction permits for three carbon pipelines.

A year ago, the governor appointed Helland to serve on the Iowa Employment Relations Board, but Democrats in the Senate blocked his nomination. Republicans won 34 seats in the state senate last November and that’s equal to the number of yes voted Helland would need for confirmation to this new role.