Knox residents can weigh in on their choice of recycling container by either contacting city hall or returning the insert included with their water bills. The city council is contemplating a switch from the open totes that are picked up weekly to a 65-gallon wheeled container with a lid. Waste Management would supply them for free and collect recycling every other week. Residents would not incur an additional cost. Continue reading
The Knox City Council will start the new year with some unfinished business when they meet this evening. They will consider ordinances to raise water and sewer rates on second reading. They’re based on a rate study conducted for the city by accounting firm Umbaugh and Associates. It took into account infrastructure needs for maintaining both services at appropriate levels. Continue reading
The Knox City Council will take the first steps toward raising water and sewer rates when they meet this evening. The agenda for their 7 p.m. session includes first reading of water and sewer rate ordinances. Continue reading
Knox residents will likely see an increase in their water and sewer bills early next year. City council members discussed the recently completed rate study during their meeting last night but did not take any formal action. That’s expected at their next meeting in December. Continue reading
The Knox City Council Tuesday night approved a series of balance transfers to close out the fiscal year in the black. Continue reading
The City of Knox is getting a rebate from its health insurance carrier, thanks to a provision in the Affordable Care Act. It caps the amount of premium money companies can spend on advertising, sales, salaries and promotion at 20-percent. The remaining 80 percent has to be spent on actual healthcare benefits. Continue reading
Knox Fertilizer now owns its 72,000 square foot building on 100 East. The company recently repaid the Starke County Economic Development Foundation and City of Knox the money they put up to build the structure. The company was previously located in the Knox Industrial Park but moved to a new location when Reagent Chemical’s White Flyer Targets division moved to Knox. Continue reading
The City of Knox recently recovered nearly $1,300 in delinquent utility bills by filing property liens. Continue reading
Knox Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston told the city council this week that the budget order came back, and the city is $45 shy of the maximum levy. The maximum levy is the maximum amount of money the city can collect from taxes. Houston said they couldn’t have gotten any closer, which is good.
Houston noted that he spoke to Matt Parkinson from the Department of Local Government Finance who said that the city will know in April about how much the tax caps will affect the city’s budget. When Houston gets that information, he will let the department heads know how much they will need to cut from their department. Last year, the city was cut over $200,000.
The Knox City Council members were presented with the 2015 budget and the budget calendar during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained that the budget process has been pushed back a bit due to a pilot program with which the county is involved.
Knox City Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston reminded those in attendance in Tuesday’s city council meeting to call before you dig if you’re planning outdoor projects.
Call 811 two business days before starting any digging project to have underground utility lines marked. If you don’t call 811 before a digging project, not only do you subject yourself to injury but you could be fined up to $10,000 or more and the cost to repair damages.
A lack of recycling could force the city of Knox to increase garbage fees. According to Knox Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, the recycling rate was down five percent last year.
This decrease in recycling efforts could impact garbage fees because the less that residents recycle, more garbage is collected. The garbage pick-up days are Monday and Thursday, and Houston said there is usually a full truck on both days. If it gets to the point that a second truck has to be sent out to finish a route, that would lead to increased fees.
Even though we live in a digital age, there is still a lot of paper collected in governmental offices. It stacks up, it goes into boxes, it’s stored in every nook and cranny, and then one day the officials in those offices say, “enough is enough.”
Knox and County officials recently got together at a Public Records Commission meeting. This is the first such meeting held in seven years.
At the meeting, Knox Clerk-Treasurer, Jeff Houston, was elected Chairman. Retention schedules were adopted in which old receipts, bills and other paper records could be destroyed. Some records, like minute books and ledgers, must be retained.
