WASD Sets Levy and Mill Rate
9/29/09 – Waupun School District residents can expect to see about a 4-percent increase in their tax rate for the 2009-2010 school year. With the 9.1-million dollar levy passed last night residents will pay $8.87 per $1,000 of assessed value for the portion of their school property tax. The total budget for the district is around 23.2-million-dollars. Despite protests from a Fox Lake area citizens group, the district also passed a resolution that will allow them to put the three elementary schools it closed earlier this year up for sale. The citizen’s group tried and failed to amend the motion to keep Fox Lake Elementary off the market until at least after the November 3rd referendum that will decide if they are allowed to detach from Waupun and join the Randolph School District. District officials expect all three schools to be on sale by the start of November.
Columbus School Board Lays Out Preliminary Budget Numbers
9/29/09 – Columbus School District taxpayers will be facing a 3% increase with a proposed $12.3 million dollar Budget for 2010. The School Board was given a range of suggested increases in the proposed levy and mil rate figures. Proposed budget scenarios resulted in a tax levies between $5.9 and $6.1 million dollars. The range for mil rates would be between $9.04 and $9.21 per thousand dollars. Budget decisions will be made at the Oct. 26th Annual meeting where the levy and mil rate are approved. The District’s “third Friday” counts resulted in a 7 student increase from 1,139 last year to 1,146 this year.
Wind Left Damage in its Wake
9/29/09 – The winds have died down for the most part in Wisconsin. There were still gusts of over 20-miles-an-hour in some places at five this morning. But that’s nothing compared to the 53-mile-an-hour winds that hit Door County yesterday. Trees and power lines were blown down in parts of Door and Fond du Lac counties. And there was at least some tree damage in Waukesha, Waupaca, and Dunn counties. The Wisconsin Public Service utility said 10-thousand customers lost their power yesterday in northeast and north central areas. Minocqua was the hardest hit, with over 33-hundred electric customers out. All service was expected to be restored by late last night.
More Information Released on Green County Death
9/29/09 – Green Lake County authorities have released more information about a two-car accident last weekend that led to the death of a 90-year-old Ripon woman. Sheriff’s officials say Vivian Schoor died from the injuries she suffered in the two-car crash at the intersection of County Highway V and Forest Ridge Road in the Town of Berlin. Her car failed to yield for the other. Also injured in the crash was 19-year-old Michael Jones of Berlin who was driving the other car. (KFIZ)
WSP Looking into Bizarre Accidents
9/29/09 – The State Patrol is still trying to find out why an Appleton man got into four crashes in seven minutes on a city street on Sunday. The driver, 23-year-old Kiriko Masasi, was still in critical condition yesterday at a hospital in Neenah. There have no citations or requests for charges made yet. Patrol lieutenant Nick Scorcio said alcohol is a possible factor, just because of how erratic the man was driving. But he would not talk about the evidence in that regard. Nor could he say how fast Masasi was going – but witnesses said he was “flying” down Outagamie County Double-“O” on Appleton’s north side. Officers said the car hit a guard rail, two vehicles at an intersection, a traffic standard, and then three oncoming vehicles – all in a stretch of four miles. A 29-year-old Appleton woman was hurt in the final crash, and she remained hospitalized in good condition yesterday.
Careless Smoker to Blame for Waupun Fire
9/29/09 – A small fire in Waupun last Thursday was caused by a careless smoker. The Waupun Fire Department was dispatched to a Wilcox Street apartment building for a fire that started on a second story balcony. Waupun Police were able to knock the fire down with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived. The resident told authorities that she was out on the deck about two hours prior to the fire smoking a cigarette. She threw the cigarette butt in a plastic pot that was about half full with dirt. The cigarette butt melted the plastic pot causing the fire. The fire burnt about a 2 foot by 4 foot section of the outer wall and burnt a small hole in the deck.
Milwaukee No Longer Among 10 Poorest Big Cities
9/29/09 – Wisconsin has the nation’s 13th lowest poverty rate among the 50 states, and the 12th lowest among children. That’s according to new figures from the U-S Census Bureau. An estimated 569-thousand Wisconsinites lived in poverty last year, or 10-point-four percent of the population. That includes 172-thousand kids, for a child poverty rate of just over 13-percent. The report also says Milwaukee is no longer one of the nation’s 10 poorest big cities. It ranks 11th, with just over 23-percent of its residents living below the poverty line in 2008. Officials are not sure what the figures really mean, because they were taken before the recession took hold.
Researchers Discuss Open Enrollment
9/29/09 – A new study tells Wisconsin public schools how to attract more students under the state’s open enrollment program. Researchers from U-W Whitewater says the keys are to spend more, offer more extra-curricular activities, and have a higher percentage of top-performing students. Wisconsin has had public school choice for about a decade. Each February, parents can apply to send their kids to any public school in the state – and those schools can take the youngsters if they have room and the kids provide their own transportation. The receiving district gets the student’s state aid – and that’s why you’ll hear some schools advertise during the open enrollment period.
