March 29, 2024

Absentee ballots now available at Union County Courthouse

Absentee ballots for the Sept. 12 school board elections are now available at the Union County Courthouse.

Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Sept. 11 or before to be counted. At-the-counter voting is open through Sept. 8.

Voters can also receive absentee ballots by mail via the Iowa Secretary of State website.

For more information about school board candidates and election information, see a future edition of the Creston News Advertiser for details.

Voters will also decide, in a referendum included in the school board ballot, whether to continue the 6-cent levy for SWCC that has been in place for the past 10 years.

All 15 Iowa community colleges have 6-cent levies in place. The levy must be approved by a simple majority of voters.

Funds gathered from the 6-cent levy are used by SWCC to purchase instructional classroom equipment exclusively.

“It goes right to the students,” said Tom Lesan, SWCC vice president of economic development. “It’s in the classroom — it’s not salaries, it’s not new roads, it’s not anything else. It’s just classroom equipment. That’s how we upgrade computer labs, that’s how we get new technology in the classroom and all that. And we’re not trying to sneak it by people — we want people to know what it is.”

SWCC President Barb Crittenden also emphasizes to tax-payers the levy will not increase their bottom-lines, and that it is a continuation of a levy already in place.

Overall, SWCC’s total tax asking is less than 88 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.