|
|
KNOW-THIS
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3694
|
Strange finding
 Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:11 am
|
 |
|
Notice the underlined bold-faced text.......
http://www.willistonherald.com/articles/2004/10/02/news/news1.txt
County approves 2005 budget
By LeAnn Eckroth, Staff Writer
The Williams County Commission approved a $7,024,717 budget for 2005 Thursday while flatlining its actual property tax money levied at $2,527,187.
The county's portion of the local property tax levy is divided with $961,961 levied for general fund, $197,649 for Road and Bridge, $725,606 for county poor and $641,970 for emergency poor.
Commissioner Larry Hanson said the only increases in actual mill levy dollars go to a required mill to the state and the Garrison Conservancy District. Since the mill valuation in the county saw an $1,100 increase, those two areas will increase in dollars, he said.
"The rest of the mill levies we are asking for are the same amount of dollars," he said.
The valuation of a mill will increase from $35,152 this year to $36,280 next.
"Taxes make up only a part of our revenue. We have other revenue sources," Hanson explained. "The primary amount of taxes we're asking for is the same as last year. We're trying to hold taxes flat. The county's request on the tax statement are the same ... It's been the same the last three to four years."
The coming year's budget includes a 2 1/2 percent raise for employees at a cost of about $80,000.
About $3,258,647 was budgeted for the general fund, $1,998,493 for road and bridge and $1,767,577 for social welfare.
The juvenile assessment center was not earmarked in this budget, but rather will paid for out of the general fund as needed.
Budgets approved under the general fund for 2005 include $97,307 for the governing board; $167,000, insurance; $1,860, district court; $19,460, court services; $4,760, juvenile court; $196,063, auditor; $244,375, treasurer/recorder; $190,111, State's Attorney; $287,070, tax and equalization; 482,477, county superintendent; $37,721, victim advocate program; $151,800, building; $62,043, custodian; $124,466, Law Enforcement Center; $1,500 courthouse lunchroom; $201,190, technology coordinator; $10,000, election; $12,500, planning department; $28,300, industrial development; $1,726, library; and $7,000, radio tower.
The public safety portion of general government lists $851,915 for sheriff, $412,729 for jail, $7,000 for coroner and $58,274 for disaster emergency services.
Special agency funds levied include $50,091 for the health insurance fund; $69,600, veterans service officer; $329,391, Oasis/FICA; $10,000, advertising; $97,721, county agent; $108,841, weed control; $42,000, correctional center; $360,280, special road levy; $55,188, older persons; $17,575, historical society; $130,105, health unit; $33,745, Upper Missouri Valley Fair; $125,653, water resources; $94,000, weather modification; and $36,280, Garrison Conservancy District.
Sheriff Scott Busching was questioned about prison meal prices. He said at $12 per day per prisoner, Williams County's meal costs are as high or higher than other correctional centers around the state. He said other places contract with large hospitals and receive cheaper rates. Another challenge was meeting special dietary needs. Commissioners agreed they have been happy with the in-house service for the cafe, but would research possible cost-cutting options.
Treasurer/Recorder Kari Evenson was asked if her office had the equipment to handle all of the land men researching oil. Evenson said what she needed was more room and more tables.
Commissioners believed there were more tables in storage.
Evenson also mentioned the possible need for more micro-film devices. Her office currently has eight.
Commission Chair Dan Kalil hinted an even bigger surge of land men was expected in November.
Kalil thanked Hanson and other committee members for their hard work on the budget so farmers on the commission could bring in their late small grains crop.
_________________
"You find me offensive? I find you offensive, for finding me offensive" |
| |
|
|
KNOW-THIS
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3694
|
|
Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:17 am
|
|
|
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,20967,703452,00.html
A standard infrared satellite image shows cloud coverage (left). a double-wavelength infrared image reveals the underlying contrails (right).
Air Traffic Blues
NASA links jet contrails to global warming. Now what?
By Joshua Tompkins | August 2004
In 2002, using data collected during the three-day grounding of all aircraft in the U.S. after 9/11, scientists discovered that contrails—the wispy white streaks that trail jets—were narrowing the natural day-night temperature cycle in well-trafficked areas. Now a NASA study indicates that warmed-up nights are outpacing cooled-down days. In the U.S., for example, detailed atmospheric modeling suggests that contrails could account for a climate-warming trend—just under 0.3°C per decade—measured between 1975 and 1994. That amount may seem trivial, but as air traffic grows (major airlines are expected to increase their fleets 40 percent by 2015), the rate of temperature increase may be six times as great by 2050.
Contrails form as the water vapor in jet exhaust condenses and freezes whenever an airplane flies between roughly 28,000 and 40,000 feet. In the presence of enough humidity, they spread into huge, thin cirrus clouds: A few contrails can merge into a swath the size of Kansas and Nebraska. The clouds trap infrared energy radiated by Earth, causing a temperature spike similar to the greenhouse gas effect.
Unfortunately, the only ways to clear the air would be to fly below the contrail zone (burning more fuel and bucking more turbulence), fly above it (where emissions would be more likely to damage the ozone layer), or invent a radical new method of propulsion that does not produce water vapor. Patrick Minnis, the senior researcher of the NASA study, admits that the outlook is gloomy. “It’s not like you’re never going to have a blue-sky day,” he says, “but you’re certainly going to have fewer and fewer.”
_________________
"You find me offensive? I find you offensive, for finding me offensive" |
| |
|
|
 
|
|
All times are GMT. The time now is Sat May 26, 2012 2:43 pm
|
|
|
|
|
Login
