Patrons of the Oakland-Riverside School District will be heading to the polls next Tuesday, to vote on a $13.3-million bond issue. Jim Sutton, Superintendent at Oakland-Riverside said if approved, funds raised by the sale of bonds, would be used for a project that’s very similar to one proposed last Spring, which calls for the combining of their educational centers located in Oakland, Carson and Macedonia, into one building. Sutton said getting to this point has been a multi-year process. He says the Riverside School Board opted for another bond issue attempt because 53 percent of the voters supported the project last time around. According to Sutton, there would be a cost savings of close to $250,000 per year, by combining the educational centers. Those savings he says, could be used to pay for additional teachers. 

While the total cost of the project is around $21.6-million, Sutton says there will be $2.5-million in savings. He says there is also a little under $6-million which will be borrowed from the remaining sales tax that’s available. The district’s taxpayers will likely see an increase of $2.70 per thousand dollars taxable valuation, which will generate the $13.3-million dollars to pay for the project. Sutton says if you have a $100,000 home, it will cost about $11 more per month in taxes, or about $134 per year, to pay for the bonds, or about $2.25 more per acre of agricultural land. He says there are only six school districts across the State of Iowa with a lower tax asking rate than the Oakland-Riverside District, which is currently at $10.19 per thousand dollars assessed valuation.

Sutton says with interest rates at historically low levels, now is the prime time to lock in the bids for any new construction, and because the builders are being very competitive. At a public meeting held January 23rd, it was pointed out that the district has the money now to build the project as proposed, but it will not be able to have that money if it continues to spend sales tax money to add new roofs and elevators to outdated buildings that are landlocked, and it will add extra costs to the district in various other ways.

A Clarinda woman accused of taking nearly $30,000 from the Clarinda High School Booster Club over a three-year period, is scheduled to appear in court Monday, for an arraignment hearing. 51-year-old Cynthia Ann Gerdts, faces a felony charge of 1st Degree Theft.  Gerdts, who was previously employed at the Page County Federal Savings Association, and served as the Booster Club’s treasurer, allegedly used a number of elaborate techniques to embezzle the money. Her pre-trial hearing will take place March 5th,  with the trial set for April 10th. If convicted on the charge , Gerdts could get up to 10 years in prison and have to pay a $10,000 fine.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for parts of southwest, western and northwestern Iowa. The watch covers Cass, Adair, Adams, Audubon, Crawford, Carroll, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, Shelby and Union Counties in our listening area, and will be in effect from Friday evening through Saturday afternoon in northwest Iowa, and Saturday evening in western/southwest Iowa. The forecast calls for up to six-inches of snow in the southwest counties, with six or more inches possible in the western/west central and northwest counties of the state.

Rain with mix with and change over to all snow Friday night, and continue through the day on Saturday, before ending Saturday night. There is still a great deal of uncertainty, according to forecasters, as to the exact track of the storm, when the rain will change to snow Friday night. The sooner the rain changes to snow, the greater the snowfall accumulations will be. If the changeover is delayed, lesser amounts of snow are expected.

Travel is expected to become difficult Friday night, with heavy snow, and winds of up to 25-miles per hour, reducing visibilities and making for slippery travel conditions. Stay alert for further weather statements on this