The Barton County Appraiser’s Office received high marks from the Kansas Department of Revenue for the accuracy of their 2017 Kansas Real Estate Ratio Study. The study is a statistical performance evaluation tool that can be used to make inferences about the relative level and uniformity of appraisals made for ad valorem purposes. Here’s Barton County Appraiser Barb Esfeld.

Barb Esfeld Audio

A perfect ratio would be 100-percent. While the Barton County 2017 market ratio for real property did not attain that perfect score, Esfeld said they came very close.

Barb Esfeld Audio

The sales ratio study is the most widely used tool for measuring mass appraisal accuracy. Esfeld ads that to fully evaluate appraisal performance within a county, many technical requirements, procedural tasks and statutory functions must also be reviewed and examined.

The Kansas Constitution requires that all taxable property in the state be appraised and assessed uniformly as to class.

The USD 428 Board of Education approved the 2018-2019 budget at Monday’s meeting at the District Education Center. The budget line that stood out the most was the mill levy for USD 428 going down 4.8 mills from the previous year.

Superintendent Khris Thexton says 10 days have passed since the budget was published in the newspaper on August 3^rd.

Khris Thexton Audio

The reason why the tax rate went from 46.031 last year to 41.226 for the upcoming year is because of how the state calculated school funding from enrollment. Two years ago, the state legislature changed the funding formula for schools, basing state aid on the current year rather than the past year. As a result, USD 428 did not receive as much state aid because their enrollment dropped. The Great Bend school district will receive more state aid this year.

The district’s 20-year old bond also gets paid off in September.

Khris Thexton Audio

SJCF Architecture was hired last year to develop a master plan of potential improvements to the district.

While the tax rate for Supplemental General or Local Operating Budget went down significantly, the district did raise their Capital Outlay rate from 6.525 to 8.000.

BOOKED: Morgan Olliff on Barton County District Court case for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, fail to signal, and no DL in possession, in lieu of bond $2,500 C/S.

BOOKED: Amy Hartun of Great Bend on Sedgwick County District Court warrant for possession of narcotics, ID theft two counts, obstruction two counts, criminal use of weapon, and theft, bond set at $20,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Jesus Leyva Jr. of Great Bend on GBMC case for serve sentence.

BOOKED: Dradena Cartwright of Russell for Ellis County District Court case for contempt, bond set at $100 cash.

BOOKED: Amy Hartun of Great Bend for KDOC parole violation, no bond.

BOOKED: Dale Byerly of Great Bend on hold for BTDC case for hold for court.

BOOKED: Miguel A. Gonzalez on Barton County District Court case for DWS and ITOL with a bond of $2,500 C/S.

BOOKED: Dionico Gonzalez of Salina on BTDC case for ITOL, MIC, bond set at $500 C/S.

BOOKED: Jose Santana of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court case for domestic battery with a bond set at $1,000 C/S.

RELEASED: Carlos Batres of Great Bend on GBMC partial serve sentence.

RELEASED: Dradeana Cartwright of Russell for Ellis County District Court case for failure to appear after posting a $100 cash bond.

RELEASED: Cody Day of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for battery, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct after posting bond in the amount of $1,000 through Ace Bail Bonding.

RELEASED: Jason Payne transported to other agency.

RELEASED: Marvin Luis on GBMC case per order of the GBMC.

RELEASED: John Ellis on BCDC warrant to Corrections.

RELEASED: Miguel A. Gonzalez on GBMC case for DWS and ITOL after posting a $2,500 surety bond through Dyn-O-Mite.

RELEASED: Dionico Gonzalez of Salina on BTDC case for ITOL, MIC after posting a $500 surety bond through Dyn-O-Mite.

RELEASED: Nicholas J. Foster on BCDC serve sentence.

RELEASED: Bryanne Biggs-Zamarripa on BCDC warrant with a $50,000 surety bond through Dynomite Bail Bonds.

RELEASED: Ralph Ross Tuey on GBMC case with a 48-hour OR and on BCDC warrant with a $300 cash bond.

RELEASED: Jose Santana of Great Bend on GBMC case for domestic battery after posting a $1,000 surety bond through Dyn-O-Mite.

USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton says the numbers are “very preliminary” but enrollment is down in most public school buildings in Great Bend for 2018-2019. The official enrollment numbers are not submitted until later in September, and Thexton says many students wait until the last day to enroll.

Overall, K-12 in USD 428 has 2,625 students enrolled, down 173 from the previous year.

Khris Thexton Audio

The enrollment numbers this year were compared to the numbers from last year’s September 20^th count, approximately a five-week difference. USD 428 held their enrollment sessions at school sites August 7-8 with online enrollment for returning students open since the middle of July.

Thexton added the online enrollment has helped the school buildings out with less people coming through and was asked if the district would remove the 3.5 percent fee for the online portion to get more families to enroll on the internet.

Khris Thexton Audio

The preliminary numbers at Great Bend High School had 784 students, with 95 yet to enroll. Great Bend Middle School was up from 411 last year to 450 this year. All the grade schools combined totaled 1,391, down from 1,502 last year.

Enrollment Numbers:

Riley: 291
Eisenhower: 285
Lincoln: 290
Jefferson: 285
Park: 240
Middle School: 450
High School: 784

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — A man is pleading guilty in Mississippi to two in a series of killings and shootings of which he’s accused.

Alex Deaton pleaded guilty Monday in Rankin County Circuit Court to murder, drive-by shooting and motor vehicle theft.

A judge is sentencing Deaton to life in prison.

Deaton admits that he killed his girlfriend, stole her SUV and shot a jogger in February 2017 in the suburbs of Jackson.

Police say Deaton then carjacked a New Mexico couple, fled to Kansas, shot a store clerk and stole the clerk’s car.

Deaton pleaded guilty in July 2017 in Kansas to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. He was sentenced there in October to nearly 13 years in prison.

Deaton is also indicted for killing a woman near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Golden Belt Humane Society today announced it is participating in KSN’s fourth annual Clear the Shelters™ pet adoption drive on Saturday, August 18.  On this day, Golden Belt Humane Society will offer waived pet adoption fees to help local families adopt a new pet. Since 2015, NBC and Telemundo stations’ nationwide Clear the Shelters™ campaign has resulted in more than 150,000 pet adoptions.

“We are very excited to be participating in this event,” said Golden Belt Humane Society Director Heather Acheson. “This is the first time Golden Belt Humane Society will be included in an event like this and we look forward to all the happy tails, for both the humans and pets. Each year, the shelter takes in 1100-1600 animals per year and it is not always easy to get them all placed in a timely manner. We work to transfer to other shelters and rescues when length of stay becomes an issue. This platform of this capacity is such a breath of fresh air in placing everyone that is adoptable, we certainly appreciate everyone who has helped make this event possible.”

WHAT:            Golden Belt Humane Society to participate as an official Clear the Shelters™ partner with KSN.  On Saturday, August 18 Golden Belt Humane Society will waived pet adoption fees to help families adopt a new pet. Some restrictions will apply.

WHEN:            Saturday, August 18 from 10 AM to 2 PM.

WHERE:         151 S US Hwy 281 Great Bend, Ks 67530

INFO:              Visit CleartheShelters.com to access more information about Clear the Shelters™, including the full list of local participating animal shelters.

ADOPTION:   A real-time pet “Adoption Tracker” – posted on CleartheShelters.com – will

TRACKER:      record the total number of pets that are adopted across all participating markets.

SOCIAL:         Use the hashtags #CleartheShelters and #DesocuparlosAlbergues to follow the effort on social media.

For more information about NBC and Telemundo stations’ pet adoption campaign, visit CleartheShelters.com. To access information in Spanish, please visit DesocuparlosAlbergues.com and follow #DesocuparlosAlbergues.

Clear the Shelters™ is an initiative spearheaded by NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal. Clear the Shelters™ is sponsored nationally by Cat’s Pride and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.