Boosters help to buy new bleachers

McCOOK, Nebraska -- New bleachers at the McCook HIgh School gym will be partially funded by the Bison Boosters.

A non-profit, fund-raising and fund-distribution group, the Boosters have committed about $30,000 toward the purchase of the new bleachers, McCook Business Manager Rick Haney said at the regular McCook School Board meeting Monday night. The bleachers will conform to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) regulations, include handrails and relieve congestion in the southwest corner of the gym, he said.

School board members will go over bids that have been received at the regular school board meeting in January, Haney said, with the installation estimated to begin sometime in spring.

With school board approval, the current bleachers, 11 rows of 90-feet long pine, will be declared as salvage, he added.

Haney also told the board that new federal standards concerning retirement accounts will require that audits show the proportional amount districts pay each year to retirement accounts. The new regulation comes as a result as some retirement systems in other states going broke in the recession. This new mandate will give a annual economic snapshot of retirement accounts.

Although it will "look like a large number" in the audit, the number would also include teacher payments as well, Haney said. In McCook, the retirement system is self sustaining, he said, with current contributions helping to offset expenditures.

The McCook Public School District pays 10 percent of teachers' income toward retirement.