January 2013

In a joint meeting held last week (Jan. 22) in Gilmore City, the Gilmore City-Bradgate and West Bend-Mallard school boards approved a change to their whole grade sharing agreement. The boards approved an addendum, which will allow GC-B students in grades 7-8 to attend classes in West Bend in the coming fall, 2013. The two districts are currently in the second year of a three-year sharing agreement in which originally, GC-B would send its students in grades 9-12 to West Bend for classes and activities. That agreement allowed for a change if enrollment concerns at one of the districts necessitated a change. Presently, GC-B has four students in sixth grade and six in seventh grade, which would make a combined 10 students in grades 7-8 next year in GC-B’s middle school. “The athletic sharing agreement will remain unchanged.

Financial matters consumed the majority of Monday’s meeting of the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital (HCMH) Board of Trustees. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Art Holle provided the monthly summary of finances for December 2012, and also explained the hospital’s budget. Holle said expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, were $12,996,387. The estimated expenditures for the current fiscal year will be $13,391,621, an increase of 3.1 percent. The proposed expenditures for fiscal 2014 will be $13,900,000, a 4.5 percent increase. Holle noted while the hospital’s total budget will be less than the published amounts, the county budget certification serves as a spending limit for the non-profit, county entity. Holle said the tax levy for next year will remain constant at $300,000. New board member Scott Curran, who was officially sworn in at the meeting, moved to accept the budget and set a public hearing for Monday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 a.m.

Not going along with the crowd, but making a concerted effort to reward public employees and departments they believe are doing a good job, the Humboldt County Compensation Board met last week and recommended raises of 3.5 percent for 10 county officials. The Compensation Board is comprised of seven members: Roger Day representing the county treasurer, Ray Fisher representing the county recorder, Romaine Lee representing the county auditor, Corey Matson and Larry Lane representing the county supervisors, Lonnie Larson representing the county sheriff and Ashley Emick representing the county attorney. The board reviewed the salaries for corresponding officeholders in the nine counties surrounding Humboldt. Humboldt County supervisors ranked nearly $1,600 below the average salary for the nine counties. Four counties had three supervisors and five had five board members, like Humboldt.