National Budgets

Spencer building listed on National Register of Historic Places (03/09/10)
It's official. Spencer's former high school and middle school building at 104 E. Fourth St. is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Administered by the National Park Service, this program is the U.S. government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

Conlin concerned about health care (03/09/10)
The availability of health care is a top priority for U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin, largely because she can relate to those without insurance. When she was 14, she got an ear infection. With no money for medication, no insurance and no car to take her to a doctor, she was forced to let the infection run its course, resulting in permanent, partial hearing loss in her left ear...

Legislators discuss rising health care costs, texting while driving (03/02/10)
When the third Eggs and Issues legislative forum of the season began Saturday morning in Spencer, attendees were encouraged to not ask the three participating state legislators about same-sex marriage or right-to-work issues, common themes of the first two sessions held this year. Even with the majority party not represented at the gathering, Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan; Rep. Mike May, R-Spirit Lake; and Rep. Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon; addressed a variety of issues ranging from oversight of the Department of Natural Resources and texting while behind the wheel to health care concerns and statewide budget cuts. ...

Lt. Gov. Judge emphasizes jobs (02/19/10)
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Reporter Thursday, Lt. Gov. Patty Judge focused on jobs from start to finish, as she discussed items she and Gov. Chet Culver hope to see accomplished during a shortened, 80-day legislative session. "We're very much aware -- as everyone in the state is -- that we're in the midst of a worldwide recession and people are concerned, and rightfully so," Judge said. ...

Snow removal takes big bites out of budgets (02/13/10)
Snow and slush flies out of the way as Tom Walker maneuvers his snowplow through Spencer's streets. He and his coworkers in Spencer's street division have spent a lot of time on those streets this winter. Clay County road workers can say the same about their routes...

Budget, street projects top council meeting (02/02/10)
Before diving into a department-by-department breakdown of Spencer's budget at Monday's city council meeting, City Manager Bob Fagen made one thing clear. While the tax rate is not increasing, the amount of taxes paid by residents will increase due to a change in the state of Iowa rollback.

Council meeting to include budget overview (01/30/10)
It's that time of year again; time for the city council to work on hammering out the city budget. Monday's 6:30 p.m. meeting will include budget overview as part of that process. The state rollback for residential profit is increasing from 45.59 percent in fiscal year 2009-2010 to 46.91 percent in 2010-2011. For example, taxes on $100,000 will cost $1.29 more per month, compared to the previous year...

Board members, legislators mull over upcoming legislative session (12/17/09)
Spencer school board members have received predictions, as well as advance warnings, from three area legislators in regard to what challenges the district's coffers and local taxpayers' wallets may expect in response to Iowa's budget shortfall and across-the-board cuts ordered by the governor. During a nighttime work session held this week, Sen. David Johnson, Reps. Royd Chambers and Mike May told the locally-elected representatives that the upcoming legislative session will probably be a "compressed situation" that will be "all about budget and very little about policy." ...

Area economic development programs adapt to loss of funds (12/17/09)
Despite a cut of over $7 million reaching state economic development services, many Lakes area corridor organizations under this umbrella are keeping their heads above water. The solvency of programs including the Mainstreet/Rural Mainstreet Program in Spencer, the the Iowa Lakes Corridor Corporation and the regional offices of Iowa Workforce Development are the result of a number of financial alternatives, including federal funding, local business support and grants...

Transportation projects roll on despite cuts (12/15/09)

Natural resources at risk in State cuts (12/12/09)
Iowa's natural resources have not been spared in the State's 10 percent across-the-board budget clear-cutting, and northwest Iowa environmental leaders wonder how deep the roots of economic damage may run. One of the largest expenditure cuts from the DNR falls in the state parks funding...

DHS program changes to save millions (12/11/09)
In order to slash over $132 million from its budget this fiscal year, Iowa's largest service agency is looking at sizable cuts to jobs, provider rates and service delivery. While an Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) spokesperson describes the impact of the cuts being made as "drastic" and "quite severe," Roger Munns is also trying to assure state residents and DHS clients that the state will make it through and the situation will turn around eventually...

State cuts taking a toll on NW Iowa (12/05/09)
"The first cut is the deepest," muses a classic song. The global economic crisis has hit home belatedly, but with full force, in Iowa and local communities this season. The bleeding can be felt from the slashes in school budgets to the trauma of sudden job losses...

Spencer school CEO: No 'major budget reductions' anticipated this year (11/27/09)
As Spencer school board members were presented with district line item budgets from 1998-99 through this and next school year's budget estimates, they were told by the district's CEO this week that tough choices will need to be made. "But the message I want out there is we are not going to go through any major budget reductions this year," Superintendent Greg Ebeling also assured. "We are going to look at using attrition through early retirements as a possibility. But, there is not going to be any big, 'This is what we're going to do for budget cuts for the coming fiscal year.' ... A year from now, if we're in the position where we have to make reductions, we'll have plenty of time leading up to them, which will allow us to talk about the process, what we're going to do and how it's going to look."

State cuts to create cash flow issue for Spencer schools (10/31/09)
School districts across Iowa are attempting to figure out how to deal with Gov. Chet Culver's 10 percent across-the-board cut, and what it means for their annual budgets which have already been set. Spencer residents were told this week that the diminished amount they'll be working to offset is $890,735. ...

Fong campaign comes to Spencer (10/06/09)
"It's spin or accounting tricks," Christian Fong said of the state budget. "But it's not common sense." The insurance executive from Cedar Rapids made his first campaign stop Monday in Spencer and touted himself as a social conservative and economist who pledged to shrink the size of state government by 5 percent in his first year as governor...

Bond package concludes 2009 session (05/02/09)
The best thing about the 2009 Legislative session? The adjournment, according to the state senator and state representative serving Spencer and the Iowa Great Lakes. "The winners are the Iowa taxpayers because we're now out of session," said Assistant Republican Leader David Johnson. "We can't do any more damage than we already did."...

Hundreds join tax protest at Clay County Courthouse (04/16/09)
Wednesday's national tax day, tea party government spending protests weren't limited to state capitols and major metropolitan areas. About 275 people filled in around a makeshift podium on the courthouse square in Spencer for a local version of the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party. The event was organized by Kris Thiessen of Everly, who co-owns White Glove, a janitorial business in Spencer...

CCE board approves 2009-10 budget, computers purchase (04/15/09)
With no public input offered, Clay Central-Everly school board members adopted the $4.99 million certified 2009-10 budget presented to them Monday night. It retained the 4 percent allowable growth rate approved by state legislators for fiscal year 2010. Next year's budget also sports a $12.52 per $1,000 valuation rate to be levied and an income surtax increase for district residents...

The Representative's representative (04/11/09)
State Rep. Royd Chambers has answered the call of duty this winter. Nancy McDowell answered a lot of calls. And a lot of letters. And a lot of e-mails. Less than a month after he was elected to his fourth term, Chambers learned he would be unable to serve House District 5 in the first session of the 83rd General Assembly. The Iowa Air National Guard member was deployed to Manas Air Base, which is located in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan...

Spencer board alerted to district's 3.9 percent solvency ratio (03/26/09)
Spencer school board members received a stern warning from a certified public accountant Tuesday regarding the district's current financial situation. After Bruce Frink of Clarion complimented Superintendent Greg Ebeling on his 2009-10 certified budget presentation, he questioned board members about the district's 3.9 percent solvency ratio as of June 30, 2008...

School board acts on contract terminations, adopts 2009-10 budget (03/25/09)
Spencer school board members adopted the $19.3 million certified 2009-10 budget presented to them Tuesday. It is based on a 4 percent allowable growth rate and sets the overarching statutory and taxing rate limits for next school year. With some board discussion about changing the Instructional Support Levy (ISL) state income surtax from the current 4 percent to a 5 percent surtax rate next year, specifically with David Schlichtemeier's concerns about making such a move, the board approved a 5 percent ISL rate.. ...

Spencer schools proposing to not change 2009-10 tax asking (03/11/09)
Spencer school board members have previewed preliminary budget numbers for next school year and scheduled a 5:30 p.m. public hearing on Tuesday, March 24 for residents to offer their feedback on the certified budget proposed for 2009-10. A second public hearing is set for the same time and date in regard to a budget amendment proposed for this year in the categories of instruction, total support services, non-instructional programs and total other expenditures...

Storm shelter, culvert route possible for Fair (03/11/09)
Emergency management officials may have an unexpected option for shelter space at the Clay County Fair. Ted Kourousis, executive director of Northwest Iowa Planning and Development is working with Iowa Department of Homeland Security about the potential of creating shelter space, under West 18th Street, for the fairgrounds...

Newhouse: From student to ILCC's new CEO (03/07/09)
Valerie Newhouse will mark her first day as Iowa Lakes Community College's president on Tuesday, Feb. 17. The 50-year-old woman will be the college's seventh CEO. But unlike her predecessors, Newhouse, a native of West Bend, has strong roots throughout ILCC's five-county area. ...

District patrons asked for help (02/28/09)
Spencer school board members have voted to reduce up to $741,812 from next year's budget. Right before they did so, though, board member Ed VerSteeg apologized to the area residents who had gathered in the standing-room-only conference room Thursday night. By that point, board members had listened to well over two hours of public comments...

Council, city staff put final touches on budget (02/28/09)
Spencer residents will have a chance to comment at a public hearing regarding the city's 2009-10 budget as part of Monday's 6:30 p.m. Spencer City Council meeting at city hall. After the hearing, council members will use a roll call vote to adopt or reject the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Spencer City Manager Bob Fagen gave council members a breakdown of expenditures in his meeting agenda memo:...

Budget cuts concern district patrons (02/24/09)
Members of the Spencer School Board now have two hours of feedback to consider as they re-stack the priorities for another difficult round of budget cuts. Spencer School District Superintendent Greg Ebeling said the district needs to reduce its budget by about $700,000 due, mostly, to continued enrollment declines. He and the Spencer School Board identified 34 areas for potential reduction in a list handed out to district patrons at a public hearing Saturday morning...

Board suggests residents pay for some transportation (02/21/09)
Spencer school board members threw a late twist in their 2009-10 budget-cutting discussions Thursday night as they moved to reduce discretionary in-town busing and turn it into a pay-for situation. The very last motion made during the evening work session -- approved 3-2, with Todd Korbitz and Marti Bomgaars dissenting, -- moved the $25,127 discretionary transportation item below the proposed cut line...

CCE looking to trim 2009-10 budget (02/21/09)
Clay Central-Everly school board members officially heard from Superintendent Monte Montgomery this week that they'll need to trim approximately $100,000 from next year's budget. "We are going to have a smaller budget than we had this year, and this year's was smaller than last year," Montgomery told them in regard to CCE's projected 2009-10 budget figures...

School board to act on 2009-10 reductions next week (02/21/09)
The Spencer Community Schools Board of Education will convene a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24 to make adjustments to potential 2009-10 budget reduction packages following feedback received during a 10 a.m. public hearing on the matter today...

Board continues budget discussions, preparations for Saturday hearing (02/20/09)
Due to the late conclusion of Thursday night's Spencer school board meeting, check out a review of what occurred during this work session in Saturday's Daily Reporter. During this meeting, the board reviewed the "additional" budget packages being considered for 2009-10 reduction, input received on each, and then created an initial ranking of them. ...

Trustees name Newhouse new college president (02/19/09)
Less than a week after former President Dr. Harold Prior tendered his resignation to the The Iowa Lakes Community College Board of Trustees in a specialy scheduled meeting, the board members named a new college President at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday afternoon...

Prior, Iowa Lakes Community College part ways (02/14/09)
The Iowa Lakes Community College Board of Trustees accepted the resignation letter and terms of retirement for college president Harold Prior during a special meeting Friday afternoon in Estherville. Prior's letter of resignation contained two sentences: "Please accept my retirement as President of Iowa Lakes Community College to be effective June 30, 2009. My retirement is subject to the attached retirement agreement."...

City budget on council's agenda (02/13/09)
The Spencer City Council will address the 2009/10 city budget at Monday's 6:30 p.m. session, with the intention of setting a public hearing for March 2. "You have to balance the need for basic core services with quality of life issues that set Spencer apart from other communities...There are several challenges facing the city. ...

Area superintendents respond to lawmaker's proposed school mergers (02/11/09)
An Iowa lawmaker wants to speed up the consolidation of school districts in the state. State Sen. Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says he will introduce a bill to force about two-thirds of Iowa's districts to merge. He wants to target districts with fewer than 750 students, and free up tens of millions of dollars in administrative costs that could be spent on teachers and students...

Residents to start tackling school budget cuts Monday (01/17/09)
The 25 "additional" budget packages being offered for consideration by community residents at 7 p.m. Monday night (See "2009-10 Spencer School Additional Budget Packages" on Page 2) total a potential $823,000 worth of staff positions and programs which could be trimmed from Spencer school district's 2009-10 budget...

Daily Reporter Exclusive (01/16/09)
Chris Dean (Right) and Justin McCormick (above), a pair of Spencer residents who dedicated a great deal of time to President-elect Barack Obama's campaign efforts - Dean in Indiana and McCormick here in Spencer - are hitting the road together today on the way to Washington DC where they will take part in the historic inauguration festivities before and after the swearing in of Obama as the United State's next President. ...

Where Spencer's snow goes (01/15/09)
Ever wonder where all the snow removed from Spencer's streets is taken each winter -- and how it gets there? It doesn't just disappear on its own accord. The group effort needed to remove any accumulated snow requires Spencer's street division workers to haul it. Staff and supervisors from other city departments also assist in the snow-removal process, especially when the job requires around-the-clock plowing...

Board strategizes on district budget with IASB financial guru (01/10/09)
As they prepare to embark upon another year of cutting the district's budget, Spencer school board members found a friend in Larry Sigel, the school finance director for the Iowa Association of School Boards, Thursday afternoon. Superintendent Greg Ebeling began the cordial "virtual presence" discussion with Sigel, conducted via a Polycam, by saying, "We know that we're dealing with a constant battle of school finance, like a lot of districts are."...

Budget cuts have abuse shelters in peril (01/09/09)
The journey from victim to survivor is long enough. Rhonda Dean, the executive director of CAASA, the Centers Against Abuse and Sexual Assault, would at least like to minimize the windshield time. CAASA serves eight northwest Iowa counties, with its main office in Spencer. Agency directors around Iowa, including Dean, are concerned about their agency's place, or lack of a place, in a shrinking state budget...

School's budget reduction timeline set (12/19/08)
As Spencer school board members were presented with a timeline and process to trim at least $340,803 from the district's 2009-10 budget, one potential budget-reduction action was taken in agreeing to offer an early-retirement policy for next school year. The board was then alerted to another financial snafu...

Expect changes at Spencer Family Aquatic Center in 2009 (12/11/08)
In the Spencer Park Board members' review of two Spencer Park and Recreation Department proposed budgets -- the 2009-10 operation budget and the 2010-14 capital improvement plan (CIP) -- Spencer Park and Recreation Director Delray Bredehoeft outlined two very different plans this week. While the operation budget's 3 percent growth model is what other city departments have been assigned, the CIP has been deemed "a pretty aggressive" five-year plan...

Public input sought on 2009-10 school budget cuts (11/25/08)
Alerted to the fact that the Spencer school district will face at least a $328,876 deficit this school year, as well as a projected $340,803 deficit again in 2009-10, school board members brainstormed about a budget-reduction process and the possibility of reinitiating an early-retirement incentive for district employees. ...

Johnson seeks GOP's No. 2 post Tuesday Democrats retain Kibbie as senate president (11/18/08)
Senate Democrats, their numbers at the highest level ever, on Sunday rewarded top leaders with another two years in office and vowed to tackle a state budget that's struggling because of the economic slowdown. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, and Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, won new two-year terms without opposition...

Spencer schools tackling projected deficit again (11/12/08)
The Spencer school board finds itself in the midst of deciding how to tell the community about a projected $340,803 budget deficit expected again in 2009-10. This follows last year, when board members slashed approximately $1.1 million from the 2008-09 school year's budget figures (See page 2.)...

Spencer dog park conceptual design OK'd (11/11/08)
A park catering to dogs and their owners was given the green light by Spencer Park Board members Monday night. The park, which has been discussed for several years, is proposed to be up to four acres of usable space. Its placement is tentatively planned south of U.S. Highway 18 in the DeWolf Park area west of the trees...

Spencer senior center representatives scrambling to answer: What's next? (11/07/08)
Representatives from the city of Spencer and the Spencer Area Activity Center (SAAC) brainstormed Thursday morning in an ongoing attempt to answer the looming question: What's next for the town's senior center? Last month, SAAC board members voted to close its doors on Dec. 31 if a feasible answer is not reached by then. Senior center board members have calculated the SAAC will have approximately $50,000 left in the center's money market account at that point...

May, Chambers look ahead to 2009 session (11/05/08)
A pair of incumbent legislators emerged from uncontested races for another two-year term in the Iowa House of Representatives. Republicans Mike May, of Spirit Lake, and Royd Chambers, of Sheldon, both said they were keeping an eye on other Iowa House races around the state on election night...

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