04/01/21: Area Happenings & Accomplishments

Assistance for COVID-19 impacted renters, homeowners available

COVID-19 impacted renters and homeowners can now apply for assistance with rent and mortgage payments through two programs. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the Iowa Rent and Utility Assistance Program and the Iowa Homeowner Foreclosure Prevention Program will provide critical assistance to COVID-19 impacted renters and homeowners.

The Iowa Rent and Utility Assistance Program will provide eligible COVID-19 impacted renters with rent and/or utility assistance for a total of up to 12 months. General eligibility requirements require that applicants be current renters earning no more than 80 percent of their county’s area median income; that one or more individuals in the household must have either qualified for unemployment benefits or have experienced a documented financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and can demonstrate a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability which may include a past due utility or rent notice or eviction notice.

Full eligibility details for the program, including an eligibility precheck, are available at iowahousingrecovery.com.

In addition, the Iowa Homeowner Eviction Prevention Program will be reopened to provide eligible COVID-19 impacted homeowners at imminent risk of eviction with mortgage assistance for up to four months, with a maximum assistance per household of $3,600. The short-term program will be available until funds are exhausted or a new federal program is launched.

Program funding is provided through federal CARES Act funds. Program eligibility details are available at iowahousingrecovery.com.

February 2021 the 8th-coldest month on record in Iowa

Last month’s polar vortex led to the eighth-coldest February in Iowa on record while also tallying below-average precipitation, according to the latest Iowa DNR Water Summary Update.

For the meteorological winter (December to February), statewide temperatures were 0.9 degrees below normal, while precipitation totaled 2.82 inches, about one half inch below normal. The statewide average snowfall was 32.2 inches, more than 9 inches above normal.

“While February was definitely a very cold month, precipitation was below normal on a statewide average,” said Tim Hall, DNR’s coordinator of hydrology resources, in a news release. “Hopefully the spring months will bring normal rainfall to replenish soil moisture and shallow groundwater supplies.”

The upcoming months of March through June typically bring more than 15 inches of rain to the state. If normal precipitation does fall across Iowa, abnormally dry and drought conditions could improve through the spring months.

Frigid temperatures blanketed Iowa for much of the first half of February due to an arctic air outbreak from a bulge in the polar vortex. While there was a rebound in the statewide average temperature at the end of the month, the average temperature for February was anywhere from 8 to 16 degrees below normal.

February’s statewide average maximum temperature was 20.7 degrees, 12.7 degrees below normal, while the average minimum temperature was 4.4 degrees, 14.5 degrees below normal. This ranks February 2021 as the eighth coldest in 149 years of state records.

Current streamflow conditions across most of the state are normal, but average flows during the month of February were below normal across much of central Iowa, especially in the Des Moines River basin.

Audit report on CC/E released

Schnurr & Company, LLP, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, recently released an audit report on the Clay Central/Everly Community School in Royal.

For the year ended June 30, 2020 the school had revenues of $4,401,816, a 10.02 percent decrease from the prior year. Operating expenses for the year totaled $4,037,280, a 21.30 percent decrease from the prior year. The significant decrease in revenues and expenses is due primarily to a change in district operations to a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade district.

Schnurr & Company, LLP reported one finding related to the receipt and expenditure of taxpayer funds. The finding, which is on page 62 of the report, addresses a lack of segregation of duties. The district was provided with recommendations to address the finding.

The finding discussed above is repeated from the prior year. The board of directors has a fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the district’s operations and financial transactions. According to Schnurr & Company, LLP, oversight is typically defined as the “watchful and responsible care” a governing body exercises in its fiduciary capacity.

A copy of the audit report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at http://auditor.iowa.gove/reports/index.html.