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West Ward valuation to remain unchanged
Red Willow County commissioners will not increase the tax valuation of a former school building in McCook, despite its owner's contention that the building and the city block on which it sits are "unique unto themselves" and should be valued at $385,680.
Acting as a board of equalization at their regular meeting Monday morning, commissioners approved their final decisions on 53 tax valuation protests.
Board members and County Assessor Sandra Kotschwar agreed that they will not change the valuation of the West Ward Elementary property, set at $127,030. The notation on the finished protest application indicates "a lack of evidence" to support owner Peter Coulter's requested increase to $385,680.
Coulter purchased the property on Dec. 16, 2005, for $130,000.
Coulter, like any other tax payer who files a tax valuation protest and does not agree with commissioners' final decision, has 30 days to file an appeal with the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission.
"We don't have pandemic flu in the world, or in the United States," Myra Stoney, director of the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department, told commissioners. But the very possibility means that Southwest Nebraska needs to have an emergency response plan in place, she said.
Within its eight counties, the SWNPHD is creating five committees whose duty it will be to write emergency plans in the event of with pandemic flu.
"Seasonal flu" and "pandemic flu" are different. Stoney presented a pamphlet that explains the difference:
SEASONAL FLU
* Occurs every year during the winter.
* Affects 5-20 percent of the population.
* Most people have some immunity.
* For most people, it is unpleasant but not life-threatening.
* People who are very young, very old, and/or those who have chronic illnesses are most at risk of serious illness.
* A vaccine is usually available.
* Antiviral drugs treat those at risk and those who are sick.
PANDEMIC FLU
* Can occur any time of the year. It has occurred three times in the last 90 years.
* May affect 30 percent or more of the population.
* People have little or no natural immunity.
* Is often life-threatening.
* Everyone could be at risk of serious illness.
* A vaccine is currently not available.
* Antiviral drugs are likely to be in limited supply during a pandemic.
Vaccine against seasonal flu will not protect against pandemic flu. However, getting a yearly flu shot is one of several things people can do to keep themselves healthy, and help fight off a pandemic flu virus.
Antiviral drugs may not be available in sufficient quantities, Stoney said. And some won't work, she added.
Each year, an estimated 36,000 people in the United States die from complications related to seasonal flu.
Pandemic flu struck in 1918, 1957 and 1969. The 1918 Spanish flu killed 50-100 million people worldwide, including about 500,000 in the United States. The 1957 Asian flu and the 1969 Hong Kong flu killed nearly 2 million people.
More information can be found at pandemicflu.gov
Of greatest concern, Stoney said, is the deadly "H5N1" strain of bird flu, which is 57 percent fatal among people who handle infected wild and/or domestic birds.
Stoney said the current level of alert is "Stage 3," but that could easily move to "Stage 4" when the flu begins to spread. "In September, we'll have H5N1 in migratory birds," Stoney said. "It' not 'if' we get it here. It's 'when'."
Stoney gave these precautions:
* Follow instructions precisely for cooking turkey and chicken.
* Learn and use cough etiquette, coughing into a tissue or a sleeve, rather than into a hand.
* Learn and use proper hand-washing techniques.
* People with fevers or symptoms should remain at home.
"We have both ends of the spectrum," Stoney told commissioners. There are those who think it's never going to happen, she said, and those who are hyperventilating in fear.
Commissioners approved an addendum to a 2005 contract with Pawnee Aviation for the repayment of a $200,000 loan and a $100,000 job creation grant/loan from the county's CDBG reusable loan fund.
Pawnee Aviation will begin repayment of the $200,000 in January 2007. The company, which is in the development stages of designing and building a kit helicopter, will be given credit for two $2,208 payments made earlier this year. The new repayment schedule acknowledges and includes delinquent interest due on six missed payments.
The new amortization schedule includes 100 payments of $2,512 each. The loan would be paid in full in March 2015.
The revision in the $100,000 job creation loan/grant allows for a required number of full-time jobs to be created by August 2007, rather than July 2006.
County Attorney Paul Wood told commissioners that protections within the original grant protect the county if Pawnee Aviation defaults on its loan.
Commissioners discussed the possibility of giving county employees a 5 percent cost-of-living increase in their 2006-2007 paychecks.
"The cost of living over the last year has done some drastic things," commission Chairman Earl McNutt said, referring to the price of gas for everyone, and, for those in McCook, the price of water.
McNutt said a 5 percent increase would amount to about $110 per month. "That may not buy a tank of gas after taxes are taken out," he said, but it's better than cost-of-living raises in the past.
McNutt asked elected county officials to "be conservative" as they develop their budgets for 2006-2007. It is a concern, he said, that a small portion of people pay the taxes in the county.
Fellow Commissioner Leigh Hoyt said he is very concerned that the county's tax base will be rocked if-and-when irrigated farmland is reclassified as dryland. "That will be a heck of a cut in the tax base of Red Willow County," he said. "It's a start of something. I'm really concerned ... three, four, five years down the road, the tax base could really be hammered."
County Assessor Sandra Kotschwar told commissioners she may have to create a new classification for such land, because previously irrigated land is generally better quality than dryland.
"The bottom line is," Hoyt said, "we've only got so much money coming in."
Until Kotschwar determines the county's valuation for 2006-2007, McNutt said, he "doesn't have a clue" whether the county's tax levy will go up this year.
"It's a tough deal," McNutt said, "relying solely on tax money to manage the county government."
McNutt told county officials, "Figure 'em (your budgets) the best you can. Don't ask for the moon. Write a sensible budget you can work with."
Commissioners approved the purchase of 1,000 copies (in books of 12) of a newly-created "Daily Equipment Use and Maintenance" sheet that will track the performance, maintenance, repairs and expenses associated with the county's 54 pieces of road equipment.
The monthly reports can be used to generate end-of-the-year reports, according to Laury Migchelbrink, who tracks repairs and maintenance for the county through the office of Miller and Associates in McCook.
The printing of the documents will cost $252.75 at Rye Printing/Splash Designz.
Commissioners decided to meet on July 31 -- a fifth Monday on which they don't always meet -- to discuss an appraisal of West Ward due in to the county by Friday, July 28 and possibly to conduct more budget workshops.
In other action:
* Commissioners approved changes in six omitted, undervalued and overvalued valuations. Assessor Sandra Kotschwar said the changes were to correct errors or to make changes in additions to houses that are partially completed or basement completion percentages.
* Commissioners approved a revision in the Bartley-Indianola-Cambridge water easement to include one-half mile from the north edge of Bartley to an intersection north.
* Commissioners approved a one-year membership in West Central Nebraska Development District Inc., a move that could help obtain grants for the proposed "Keystone" project to expand 21st Century Systems in McCook and to repurpose the old Keystone Hotel in downtown McCook as a technology business center.
All three commissioners were reluctant to join the organization, McNutt and Downer saying that the county has been a member in the past and withdrew because it felt it wasn't doing anything for Red Willow County. They felt forced to join the WCNDD -- "squeezed into a corner," Downer said -- to help apply for and secure grant funds for the Keystone project.
Downer said he can rationalize the membership as an opportunity, with the Keystone project, to increase the tax base for the county.
Hoyt said he wants it clear that the county is doing this to help McCook Economic Development Corp., which is spearheading the Keystone project.
Commissioners unenthusiastically approved paying the one-year membership cost of $2,300.
* Commissioners declined to set up voluntary health screenings for county employees through an administrative services agreement with Interactive Health Solutions. The blood draws and the computerized health reports would cost the county $185 for each employee and each spouse. The screenings could cost the county up to $18,500, and would be part of the insurance company's fixed costs, rather than a claims process.
"That's pretty high," Downer said. "I can get the same blood draw at the county health department for $44."
He continued, "For $44, I'm very impressed with Red Willow County's health department."
Downer suggested checking with Health Department Director Margaret Swanda to see if similar health reports can be generated through her office. He also recommended setting up a schedule for offering health screenings to county employees through the county health department. "I'd like to get our people to use the services we have locally," he said.
In action during their July 17 meeting:
* Commissioners agreed to allocate $8,586 to Domestic Abuse Sexual Assault Services, which is asking for $.75 per capita to finance its activities for Red Willow County clients.
This is not an increase over the organization's request in 2005.
* Commissioners agreed that the county will be the fiscal agent for a new CDBG grant application for 21st Century Systems, McCook.
* Commissioners agreed to a $1,600 contribution from the county to the Family Advocacy Network in Kearney for forensic interviews and exams on child abuse and sexual assault cases. County Attorney Paul Wood told commissioners, "It's probably the best money used by the county in law enforcement. It's an amazing value."
Wood continued, "All the agencies in the county use it. If we had to hire all these experts, $1,600 may cover just one case."
* Commissioners agreed to pay $175 from the county's general assistance fund for emergency short-term assistance to a homeless client of Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska.
Commissioners authorized Wood to look into a possible revision of general assistance regulations written last in 1986.