NEWS NOTES ON WGFA for Wednesday, August 13, 2008 >

Upgraded computer system to cost Iroquois County…. K-4 Wind Farm appears likely…. Vermilion County gains EPA grant…. Rossvile Fire District OK’s bond proposal for ballot….

Chance of showers, then maybe a T-storm this afternoon. High near 81. Showers and T-storms in the forecast tonight and Thursday.

–View more area news on the links at WGFARADIO.COM–

• A new software proposal will cost Iroquois County in the neighborhood of a quarter-million dollars, but local officials say it’s necessary for a timely and accurate tax bill. Devnet, Inc. offers a tax cycle software program that county board members say, will update an antiquated system that’s more than do to be upgraded. The board Tuesday approved spending $62,600 for the initial year of a five-year contract with Devnet. Tax committee chairman Jerry Haynes said the cost for the following four years will be about $44,000 annually. The contract includes licensing, software support, annual maintenance, and one year of data conversion.
• Public hearings are expected to begin in October for the K-4 Wind Farm, which will include Milks Grove Township in Iroquois County. Vision Energy is gearing up to construct a a 300-tower wind farm covering parts of Iroquois, Kankakee, Ford and Livingston counties. Developers hope to begin construction in late 2009.
• Eighteen Illinois counties, including Vermilion County, have been awarded solid waste enforcement grants by the IEPA. The grants enable the local award recipients to conduct inspections of landfills, compost sites and transfer stations and for investigations and enforcement activities at agency-permitted solid waste disposal sites and illegal dumps. Vermilion County gets $45,000.
• The Rossville Area Fire Protection District Board has voted to put a bond proposal on ther November ballot to pay for its new fire station. Issuing bonds require a property tax increase. A bonding company estimates that an $850,000 bond issue with a 20-year payback period would increase property taxes on a house with a fair market value of $100,000 by about $118 a year. It would also increase property taxes on farmland by about $1.26 per acre. The board plans to distribute community facts. The department is also hosting an Open House on September 13th.
• Damage estimates are listed at $12,000 after a shed fire yesterday in Kankakee. It happened in the 300-block of Main Street. The shed was destroyed. Fire officials report the house and two vehicles sustained heat damage. The cause is under investigation.
• Bond is set at $500,000 for a Fairbury man charged in a drug-induced homicide and unlawfully delivering a controlled substance. Livingston County authorities report 30-year-old Chad Whatley (wait-lee) delivered heroin to Chad Hammond in June of 2005. Hammond later died from a drug overdose. The drug-indiced homicide charge carries a possible prison term of 6-30 years.

“Your Illiana News Source” — 94.1 FM, WGFA