Boys 4 X400 Meter Relay team sets Warren County School Record!

May 3, 2024
By:

Members of the DeKalb and Warren track and field team set the new school record in the boys 4 x400 meter relay team on April 23rd at Cookeville High School. The girls 4x 400 relay came extraordinarily close, missing the record by 3 hundredths of a second. It was an exciting night of track and field for these athletes!

Teammates Julian Martinez, Lee-Allen Esperza, Kaleb Spears and Andrew Key broke the record with a blazing time of 3.36.64, besting the previous mark set in 2016 by almost 2 seconds!!

The girls 4×400 team was run by Breanna Iverson, Chloe VanVranken,
Ella VanVranken, and Zoey Snider with a time of 4.28.7. Missing the record by such a fraction of a second left the girls team hungry for another chance. The record was set last year at sub-sectionals with a time of 4:28.4.

Other personal bests set on Tuesday were:
Ella Hendrixson 200 meter: 32.13
Leah Trapp 100 meter: 15.08
Chloe VanVranken 400 meter: 63.8
Tytianna Fisk 100 meter: 17.37

Pictured left to right are 4×400 teams: Julian Martinez, Lee-Allen Esperza, Kaleb Spears, Andrew Key, Breanna Iverson, Chloe VanVranken, Ella VanVranken, and Zoey Snider.

May 3, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Good news, bad news!

Property tax rates for City of Smithville landowners will not be going up this year, but water and sewer rates will be raised by 4% in order to keep utility revenues ahead of expenses, per state requirement.

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will consider first reading adoption of a budget ordinance for the 2024-25 fiscal year during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. at city hall.

Although there were a few major spending projects this past year which affected the budget, Mayor Josh Miller said the investments were needed and he is pleased that the city was able to fund them without any need to increase the city property tax increase in the new year ahead. In keeping with his admonition to “have a year of savings” Mayor Miller said the aldermen postponed some budget requests by department supervisors until next year or later..

“We have done a lot of infrastructure (capital outlay) projects and we have had to amend the budget a few times this year because of it,” said Mayor Miller. “We have spent quite a bit of money but we have not borrowed money and we are not going up on taxes. Next year when we set the new budget, it looks like we will be profiting,” he said

One of the projects undertaken this year was a rehab of the swimming pool.”People want the pool open during the summer year after year but to open it for this season we had to fix it. The pool is about ready to re-open now. It has new tile and will soon have new LED lights. Its a lot safer than before,” said Mayor Miller.

Another major project, a new irrigation system at the golf course is also almost complete.

The city property tax rate is 0.7523 cents per $100 of assessed value and it is expected to generate $1,360,000 in revenue which is about the same as the actual property tax collections of $1,360,762 in the year 2022-23.

The new rates for city water customers will be $8.26 per thousand gallons of usage (up from the current rate of $7.94 per thousand). Rates for customers outside the city limits will be $12.38 per thousand (up from the current rate of $11.90 per thousand. City sewer customers will pay $7.69 per thousand (up from the current rate of $7.39 per thousand).

The proposed budget includes a 3% across the board pay raise for city employees, the creation of a new part time city codes/ordinance enforcement officer position, and funding for a few capital outlay expenditures. The city is opting out of its current Nationwide retirement offering and joining the state’s 457B plan hoping to improve retirement benefits for employees who participate. With the change, the city’s local match for those who enroll will be 5%, up from the 3% match under the Nationwide plan. The largest single expenditure planned (which may be funded through a budget amendment in the current year 2023-24) is for refurbished radios including portables, mobiles, and repeaters to upgrade the communications system for the police department and mobiles and repeaters for the fire department. The total cost for these refurbished (less expensive than new) radios comes to $273,307 which is in addition to the $115,000 allocated in January for new fire department portables. The city has little choice but to make the investment due to changes in technology which will soon make their current radios obsolete and unusable. The city will use funds from the general fund surplus to pay for all the radios.

Because of one time big ticket items like the radios and other improvement projects undertaken, such as at the golf course and swimming pool without allocations in the budget for them, the bottom line at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2024 will show the general fund going into the red by $1,228,959. However, city officials point out that this deficit number is a bit deceiving in that while the city did overspend its budget, the municipality actually has the money to cover the overage. It just has to be taken from the city’s general fund reserves through budget amendments. And if spending is held in check, the city is to show at least a $178,906 surplus in the general fund by this time next year at the close of the 2024-25 fiscal year. The city’s general fund concluded the 2022-23 fiscal year at $169,029 to the good.

In the water and sewer department, the budget projects city metered water sales to be $1,443,500 for the year 2024-25, up from the actual collections of $1,357,335 for the 2022-23 year. Sewer charges are budgeted to bring in $1,152, 000 for the year compared to actual collections of $1,104,591 for the year 2022-23. Projected water tap fees are budgeted at $38,000 for 2024-25, below the actual collections for water tap fees of $41,897 for 2022-23. Sewer tap fees are budgeted at $45,000 for 2024-25, just below actual sewer tap fee collections of $50,700 for 2022-23.

The water and sewer fund is expected to finish the 2023-24 year in the black by only $362 on June 30th but is projected to show a surplus of $1,548,462 by the close of the 2024-25 fiscal year, however all but $1, 213 of that is due to onetime ARP & CDBG grant funds for sewer rehab. According to city officials, the state does not recognize grant income as part of the city’s operating budget in terms of profit or loss. A year ago, the city ended the 2022-23 fiscal year with a surplus for the year of $875,264 in the water and sewer which was actually approximately $150,000 not counting grant income.

The new budget also includes the following in new spending:

*The addition of a part time codes enforcement officer (budgeted salary $30,000 per year)

CAPITAL OUTLAY:
* Public Works: Purchase of F550 with bed crew cab style dump truck to replace a 2002 F350 model.-$85,000 (funded 50% or $42,500 by the general fund and 50% or $42,500 by the water & sewer budget)
*Public Works: Purchase of F-150 pickup truck-$46,000 (funded 50% or $23,000 by the general fund and 50% or $23,000 by the water and sewer budget)
*Public Works: Purchase of (2) ZTRAK lawn mowers-$24,000
*Public Works: AC Machine-$6,600 (new means of substituting refrigerants in the A/C system of city owned vehicles)
*Purchase Fire Hydrants: $40,000
*Police Department: Purchase of Dell Touch Screen Computers for patrol cars-$15,000
*Financial Administration: G-5 Software Upgrade-$55,200 (funded 50% or $27,600 by the general fund and 50% or $27,600 by the water and sewer budget)
*Street paving -$100,000
*Airport: Grounds Equipment Grant-$130,000
TOTAL GENERAL FUND CAPITAL OUTLAY: $408,700

WATER AND SEWER FUND PROJECTS:
*Fixed Asset additions: Sewer rehab project grants-$2,200,000

The General Fund Debt Service for the police department building is projected to be $162,550 for the year including $100,000 in principal payments and $62,550 in interest on long-term debt

Ending cash by June 30, 2025 in the general fund is estimated to be $4,947,446, down from the actual ending cash for 2023 of $6,055,430. The water and sewer department’s Ending Cash is figured to be $7,027,546 by June 30, 2025, up from $5,997,109 for 2023.

May 3, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Educators and support staff will be getting larger paychecks based on years of service if the Board of Education’s proposed 2024-25 budget is adopted by the county commission this summer.

During Thursday night’s monthly meeting, the school board approved its new budget with the proposed raises, but it (budget) first has to pass the test of both the county budget committee and full county commission before it takes effect. Under the plan, a $2,000 increase would go to employees with up to 9 years of service; $5,000 for those with 10-19 years; and $6,000 to staff with 20 or more years.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps will present the new school spending plan to the budget committee on Tuesday, May 28 at 6 p.m. But unlike previous years when the school board absorbed the increased costs of pay hikes from the school budget’s almost $10 million fund balance reserves, this time Cripps and the board will ask the county to ante up some extra money to help fund the raises.

“We are asking the county for help,” said Director Cripps. “I think we have done our due diligence for the nine years I have been here as director. We haven’t asked for an extra penny (more local property tax money) but now we need help,” he said.

A total of 0.5298 cents of the county’s $2.00 property tax rate per $100 of assessed value goes to help fund the DeKalb County School District. That equates to around $62,000 per one cent of the tax levy.

When asked how much extra money the school board would be requesting from the county, Director Cripps replied “we would be happy with whatever we could get at this point”.

The DeKalb County School District employs 234 teachers and other professional personnel as well as 177 support staff and all of them would be eligible to earn more money under the board’s proposal.

According to Director Cripps, entry level pay for teachers locally is now just over $50,000 per year but many teachers who have worked in the system for years are not earning much more than that. One educator speaking at a school board workshop last month said she has been teaching for 28 years and is making $56,000. The school board’s pay proposal in this budget seeks to address issues like that.

“One of the things we have noticed is that there isn’t a great separation from the pay of an individual who starts teaching to those with 20 plus years. Partly because of this we are starting to lose teachers with more experience because they are trying to get their high five,” said Director Cripps. “We (DeKalb County School District) are number 7 in the state with starting out salaries because we are at $50,000 but on the back end of the scale we are lagging in the state”.

During a workshop prior to the school board meeting Thursday night, Director Cripps explained the impact the proposed pay raises would have on the 2024-25 budget.

“If you look at our total budget last year it was $30,440,922. With this (pay raise plan) the budget would be $33, 458, 197 which is about a $3.1 million increase in the budget. We’re getting a little over $28 million from the state and the county,” explained Director Cripps.

“The majority of the budget increases are for raises,” explained Cripps. “We have added a PE teacher at the West School because their numbers have grown. They are growing probably faster than any other school. We are adding a kindergarten teacher and taking on new salaries, including one out of ESSER and two for special education because of the needs of students coming in especially in the elementary, K-5 grade level. I think there are 20 plus kids in CDC at Smithville Elementary and that’s Pre-K to 2. Those numbers are getting to be exceedingly high. We are also looking at putting a CDC or SED classroom at the West School because we are transporting several students from that building to the Middle School, Northside, or Smithville Elementary,” said Director Cripps.

Meanwhile in his monthly report on personnel to the board, Director Cripps said that Cole Dziekiewicz has been granted a leave of absence.

Resignations/Retirements
Suzanne Gash, teacher at DMS, retirement
Tina Gash, teacher at SES, retirement
Jennifer Griffith, teacher at NES, resignation
Brandi Womack, bookkeeper, DWS, resignation