The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, approved the language for a proposed Special Election ballot pertaining to a Voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (V-PPEL) and combined Income Surtax. The election will be held Sept. 13^th, 2016. Information sessions are planned for district patrons, to further explain how the combined regular PPEL and Income Surtax will reduce the tax amount property owners pay on their assessed valuations, yet still maintain the 85-cent per thousand dollars the district receives from taxes.

Business Manager/Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast explained the Income Surtax cannot exceed 20-percent, but that it’s unlikely that it will never be that high.

Superintendent Mike Amstein says state law allows the district to use a combined property tax and income surtax for the PPEL, but the district hasn’t done that since 2012. Only property tax assessments are currently used to support the PPEL.Board Vice President Kristy Pellet reminded the Board and informed the public, that because there is a limit of 85-cents, “Even with that combination of Income Surtax and Property Tax, we can’t generate more than 85-cents per thousand (dollars of assessed valuation.)”

Mary Beth Fast said if the Income Surtax had been in-place for the current school year, it would have cut the property tax rate about 60-cents. Kristy Pellet said the combined PPEL and Income Tax Surtax would essentially make it fairer, because more people would contribute to the PPEL, not just property owners.

Fast told the Board the amount of the Income Surtax would be determined each year in March, when the District’s budget is being formulated.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education, Wednesday, approved the final year of Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein’s contract and related pay increase. The vote was 4-to-1, with Dr. Keith Swanson voting “No.” Business Manager/Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast said the contract includes a three-percent raise and changes that went into effect July 1^st, which had previously been approved by the Board.

Amstein’s salary will increase from $137, 904.00 to $142,041.00. The contract also calls for the District to pay him $25,000 upon his retirement. Those funds will be put into an Health Reimbursement Account (HRA), future use.

Amstein had earlier announced he plans to retire at the end of the 2016-17 school year.

(Update 6:55-a.m.: Cowden has been apprehended and is currently in custody in the Clarke County Jail.)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a 29-year-old inmate has been listed as escaped from the state work release facility in Des Moines. The Iowa Corrections Department says Michael Cowden didn’t return to the facility from work on Wednesday. He’d been sent to work release after his parole was revoked on May 3.

Michael Cowden

Cowden originally was sentenced to 15 years for assault and prohibited acts in Clarke County.

Police in Red Oak arrested a man on an assault charge early this (Thursday) morning. Officials say 24-year old Cody Dean Johnson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 4:20-a.m.  He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and charged with Simple Assault. Johnson was being held in the jail on a $300 cash bond.

Three people, two women and a man, were injured Wednesday afternoon during a collision in Red Oak, between a pickup and an SUV. Red Oak Police say 95-year old Eloise Brower, of Red Oak, was transported by ambulance to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital before being flown to a hospital in St. Joseph, MO., for treatment of serious injuries. 74-year old Gary Reeve, and his passenger, 71-year old Linda Reeve, both of New Market, were transported by ambulance to the hospital in Red Oak, for treatment of unknown injuries.

The accident happened at around 2:30-p.m., when Brower, who was driving a 2008 Chevy Equinox, stopped, but then pulled away from the intersection of Highway 34 and N. Eastern Avenue, in Red Oak. Her SUV was struck on the driver’s side by Gary Reeve’s 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup. Brower had to be extricated from her vehicle by mechanical means, following the collision.

Both vehicles sustained $7,500 damage in the crash. Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by Red Oak Fire and Rescue, deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, officials with the Montgomery County EMA, and LifeNet 23 helicopter, out of Clarinda.