BRIEFLY Iowa school district collects $340,000 in tax levy error

BRIEFLY

Iowa school district collects $340,000 in tax levy error

SHEFFIELD (AP) — West Fork School District officials are planning to cut property tax collections after a review found the northern Iowa district had been collecting too much money.

The Globe Gazette reports that a tax levy error caused the district to collect nearly $340,000 too much since 2013 from property taxpayers. Superintendent Darrin Strike said Monday the error stemmed from entering a state default code for the levy while preparing the budget.

The firm Piper Jaffray discovered during an external review that the district’s voter-approved physical plant and equipment levy was assessed at a rate of 33 cents more than allowed. Funds from the levy are used on buildings, technology or transportation equipment.

For the past three years, the levy was incorrectly set to the previous property valuation of $1 per $1,000, rather than 67 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation that was implemented when Sheffield-Chapin and Meservey-Thornton school districts consolidated with the Rockwell-Swaledale to form the West Fork School District.

The school district will reduce the levy over the next two years to collect about $340,000 less from property taxpayers. According to Strike, the exact levy reduction will not be determined until new property tax evaluations are confirmed.

Judge says Iowa beating was racially motivated, ‘vicious’

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) — An Iowa bar’s surveillance camera captured video of a white felon committing a “vicious attack” on a black man, and the evidence indicates the beating was racially motivated, a judge has ruled.

In a written ruling Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles ordered that 40-year-old Randy Joe Metcalf of Dubuque remain in custody pending his trial on a federal hate crime charge. Metcalf, who has at least eight prior assault convictions, is “a danger to the community” who could not be trusted to comply with any conditions of release, Scoles said.

Metcalf was arrested last week in the Jan. 12 beating of 31-year-old Lamarr Sandridge at the Northside Bar in Dubuque. Federal prosecutors played clips of surveillance video during a detention hearing Friday that Scoles said captured Metcalf’s “vicious attack on the victim while he lay motionless on the floor.”

The video shows Metcalf kicking and stomping on Sandridge’s head. Metcalf appears to leave the bar, then returns to kick and stomp the victim again, Scoles said.

2 Iowans win $1 million lottery, bringing 2015 total to 6

DES MOINES (AP) — Two Iowa residents have won separate $1 million lottery prizes this month.

The Des Moines Register reports that 49-year-old Mike Hartman of Winfield and 75-year-old Betty Downs of Burlington claimed their prizes Monday.

Hartman won his prize in the Mega Millions drawing on Friday. Downs won in the Nov. 10 drawing but didn’t check her ticket until Friday.

Hartman bought his winning ticket at the Countreestore in Winfield, and Downs bought her ticket at the River Mart convenience store in Burlington. Both businesses will get a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling a $1 million winning ticket.

Six tickets bought in Iowa have now won $1 million prizes in 2015.

Council OKs plan to save historic Des Moines bridge

DES MOINES (AP) — The City Council has approved reconstruction of a landmark downtown bridge in downtown Des Moines.

The Des Moines Register reports that the council took the action Monday and that the bridge could reopen to pedestrians and bicyclists within the next year.

A preservation group already has reached its $2.3 million fundraising goal to help save the structure.