Government

The Mills County Board of Supervisors has approved the county’s $18.5 million budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Next year’s county budget is up slightly from the 2015-2016 fiscal year, which ends June 30, but does reflect a second straight year of decline in the tax levy, from the current rate of 9.633319 (per taxable $1,000 valuation) to the proposed 9.40932 in rural areas of the county. Residents living in incorporated areas within the county would see their tax rate dip from 6.41855 to 6.19468.

The fee for purchasing a lot at the Glenwood Cemetery could be going up.

At the recommendation of the Glenwood Cemetery Board, the Glenwood City Council is considering a proposal that would raise the cost of a lot at the Glenwood Cemetery from $600 to $650.

In a meeting with city council members last week, Glenwood Cemetery sexton Mike Collins said the $650 lot fee would keep Glenwood’s pricing lower than Council Bluffs’, but higher than some other southwest communities outside the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area.

A group of Mineola residents fighting a dirt dig site in their neighborhood will finally have their day in court Feb. 9.
Omaha attorney Terry White, on behalf of nine plaintiffs, filed suit last April against the Mills County Board of Adjustment for its controversial decision to grant a special use permit to Cory Leick to extract dirt from a 40-acre parcel west of Mineola along Barrus Road and 237th Street.

Kim Clark’s political career owes a lot to the advice she didn’t take.

Clark, who wrapped up her third and final term in the Glenwood Mayor’s Office Jan. 1, decided to run for the Glenwood City Council nearly a decade ago on essentially a whim.

“There was no one running in Ward 3,” said Clark, who is a 15-year deputy with the Mills County Sheriff’s Office. “And I got elected on a write in. It was just a spur of the moment thing that lasted 10 years.”