By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
At its Wednesday, Dec. 15, board meeting, Griggsville-Perry approved the school district’s 2021 tax levy, which is payable in 2022.
The total levy, $2,650,945, represents a 4.9% increase over last year’s levy based upon an increase in the equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of property within the district’s boundaries.
According to G-P Superintendent Kent Hawley, however, the tax rate under this levy will decrease about $0.02 per $100 of a property’s valuation.
The school board also approved a two-year contract with Quincy’s QFB for the district’s natural gas. The agreement runs for two years and provides a price of $4.67 per dekatherm.
Hawley said that the new contract was prompted by February’s unprecedented natural gas price spike.
“We decided, after last February when natural gas prices went so high, to look at brokering our natural gas prices,” Hawley said. “We looked at the natural gas prices in September and October, and they were quite a bit higher than what we were paying. There’s no indication those prices will do anything but go up, so it seemed like a good time to lock in a price to hedge against another event like last February.”
Also approved by the board were several revisions to school board policies, which were prompted by changes in state law.
Following closed session, the board accepted the resignation of middle school special education teacher Shannon Butler, as well as elementary and high school cook Jackie Hibbert.
Finally, board members approved an increase in the stipend for athletic event ticket takers to $20 per game and for game supervision to $60 per night.
Stipends had been $10 for ticket takers and $40 for game supervision.
According to Hawley, the increases were an attempt to encourage individuals to serve as ticket takers and game supervisors. In addition, Hawley said the increases were an attempt to keep up with minimum wage rate increases, even though the stipend-paid positions need not pay the state’s minimum wage.
