Budgets

On Tuesday the Jasper County Council met to approve its annual budget. After reading the budget, which can be found here, the Council approved it.

It then reviewed budgets for the Rensselaer Central School Corporation, the Jasper County Airport, and the Northwest Solid Waste District. Thankfully no one read lists of numbers as the president of the Council had done for the County Budget. The RCSC expects a small drop in student population of ten to 15 students from last year. The high school has a very large freshman class, but there are grades that are fairly small. It has been a tough year for the school to hire personnel, whether they be teachers, bus drivers, or custodians. The labor market is very tight.

The airport is budgeting for starting a flight school. (Discussed here.) It is also thinking of capital improvements in the form of a new hangar to replace the 80-year-old structure that is next to the taxi-way.  It will probably be a no-frills structure because the people currently renting space in the old hangar are price conscious. It has been a great year for fuel sales, perhaps the best ever.

The Northwest Solid Waste District had a smaller budget because of combining two positions into one. A concern for them is the increasing costs of recycling electronics. There was one other non-binding review that the Council was supposed to make, for the Iroquois River Conservancy, but it was postponed until the 23rd at 6:00 pm.

The Council approved some additional appropriations and noted that the elevator for the former PNC building has been delivered. Installing it will take several days.

The Jasper County Historical Society also met on Tuesday evening. Its meeting can be viewed here. (You need to go to the 7:40 mark for the meeting to begin.)

The Walk with a Doc series continues on Mondays at noon at Brookside Park. Last Monday those attending heard about high blood pressure from Dr O'Malley. (who went to school in Poland.) After the short presentation, those attending walk the road through Weston Cemetery, which is about a mile.

Work has begun to install the basketball backboards in Staddon/Monnett Park. The concrete footings are scheduled to be poured on Monday.

 Mattheson was closed on Thursday. Although the whole street looks like it needs work, only a few especially bad parts are being redone.

 In the picture above, the field that is turning yellow is a field of soybeans.

Also along Mattheson are fields of sorghum that are maturing.