Rising health care costs and falling state funding are putting a major dent in the Bartholomew Consolidated Schools budget plans for next year.

Chad Phillips, the district’s assistant superintendent for financial services, told the school board this week that rising health care costs are already up 14 percent through July, compared to the entirety of last year.

Next year’s budget will see increasing health insurance premiums, lower benefits and decreases in other funds to cover the rising health care costs, Phillips said.

The reserve fund for health care has continued to fall, with reserves of only about $338,657. That is compared to an ending balance of $2.8 million last year and $9.5 million five years ago. Phillips said that for the first time ever, the district did not have enough money in its health care reserve fund last week to make a full payment on claims. The district worked with its third party administrator  to reschedule payments to bridge the gap.

Phillips estimated that the district would see about $2 million dollars more than anticipated in health care costs this year. For next year, that meant cuts in several areas.

The 2020 proposed budget would be just over $117 million dollars, compared to this year’s nearly $115 million dollar budget, an increase of 1.8 percent. Phillips said.

The first vote on next year’s budget is set for Sept. 23rd.

There will be a remembrance ceremony for the Sept. 11 attacks this morning at Columbus City Hall. That will start at 8:40 a.m. with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, 18 years ago.

Members of the Columbus Fire and Police Department Color Guard will take part in the ceremony, and brief comments will be made by city officials. The ceremony is expected to last about 30 minutes.

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak  at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania this morning

Governor Eric Holcomb has directed flags at state facilities across Indiana be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset today in remembrance of the victims of the attacks. He is also asking businesses and residents statewide to lower their flags.

Almost 3,000 people lost their lives when terrorists commandeered four planes on Sept. 11, 2001, flying two into the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon. The passengers on the fourth airliner fought with the hijackers and the plane crashed Shanksville.

A sponsored research program created to drive and advance the next generation of material handling industry technology is accepting proposals. The submission form for Toyota Material Handling North America’s University Research Program is now open and will be accepting proposals via its website through Dec. 1, 2019.

The TMHNA University Research Program was created to encourage and support professors and student researchers to apply their engineering and technical research to discover innovative solutions for the material handling industry. Applicants from North American universities will be evaluated on several criteria, including their possible impact on the future of the manufacturing industry, timeline and feasibility of budget. Applicants with selected proposals will be announced at MODEX 2020, March 9-12, 2020, in Atlanta.

“This program reflects our mission to provide customers – and the material handling industry as a whole – with creative solutions and new innovations,” said Brett Wood, President and CEO, Toyota Material Handling North America. “We believe university engineering programs are already working on smart solutions that can be applied to the material handling industry. Send us your proposals, and let’s build the future of this industry together.”

Proposal themes for the 2019-2020 research submissions in the following areas are encouraged. However, alternative themes are welcome.

• Material handling for last-mile delivery, urban environments, piece-picking, reverse logistics and automation
• Remote operation of material handling equipment
• Warehousing energy infrastructure
• VR/AR for material handling applications
• Machine learning in material handling
• Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) for material handling equipment
• Industry 4.0

For more information about the TMHNA University Research Program, visit UniversityResearchProgram.com.

The North Vernon Parks and Rec Department, as well as city police, would like to know who is responsible for vandalism at the city park.

Parks Director Chad Speer says that sometime early Sunday, someone went into the men’s restroom at the old concession stand area near Shelterhouse #3. A large rock was used to destroy three urinals and two toilets. During Monday evening’s meeting of the North Vernon City Council, Speer opined that the damage could have been greater, but the rock used in the destruction ultimately got

stuck in one of the toilets.

Speer expects estimates to repair the damage will be ready within the next few days. There’s been no word yet on expected costs.

Personnel from the Southeast District of the Indiana Department of Transportation will participate in an earthquake disaster training exercise the week of Sept. 16-20 at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville. INDOT says that operations will include route clearing, bridge inspection and building assessments.

Authorities say this will cause an increase in traffic between the district’s headquarters in Seymour, the INDOT Maintenance Unit at North Vernon and the MUTC.

On Wednesday and Friday (Sept. 18 & 20), teams will be deployed to and from Seymour, and will travel U.S. 50 and the bypass to MUTC and the North Vernon Unit location on State Road 3.

Officials say the training exercise will involve personnel from all INDOT districts from across the state, as well as employees from the Ohio Department of Transportation. Similar training programs are conducted each year to ensure INDOT and its employees are prepared to respond to natural disasters.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says that three bridges on I-65 will be closed, starting next week, for bridge deck overlays and preventative maintenance as part of the added travel lanes project in Jackson and Bartholomew Counties.

The following bridges will be closed for approximately 55 days while crews complete overlay and maintenance work:

• Enos Road/C.R. 700 N. (Jackson County), Detour: C.R. 1000 E. to C.R. 800 N. to U.S. 31
• Redding Road/C.R. 925 E. (Jackson County), Detour: C.R. 800 N. To C.R. 1000 E.
• C.R. 950 S. (Bartholomew County), Detour: C.R. 150 W. to C.R. 1050 S. to C.R. 80 W. to C.R. 1100 N. to C.R. 60 E.

The entire I-65 added travel lanes and reconstruction project is scheduled to be complete by August 2020.

All work is dependent on the weather.

If you are looking for more traffic information, download the WAZE app for your smartphone and join the WCSI Traffic team. You can find updated traffic information on our website, on-air and on the app.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are planning to borrow $900 thousand dollars to provide for the technology needs of students and staff next year.

Chad Phillips, the assistant superintendent for financial services, said that the loan is needed because of decreasing revenue from the state due to tax caps.

The district plans to spend just over $586,000 to purchase laptops for next year’s estimated 997 incoming freshmen. The district also plans to purchase 373 devices for teachers and staff at a cost of almost $314,000 dollars. Staff devices will include a mix of desktops, laptops and Chrome books according to district officials.

The bond would be paid off in a single year and Phillips anticipates that the district will have to make similar loans going forward to fund capital projects.

Because of rising assessed property values, taxpayers will not see any impact from the new bond, Phillips estimated.

Labor Day weekend’s free concert to benefit Our Hospice of South Central Indiana raised $124,000 for the agency according to organizers.

The concert drew about 7,500 people to Mill Race Park to see the headlining act of 80s rockers Survivor.

Laura Leonard, president of the hospice, said the goal was to raise $125,000 but the slightly lower amount was still being counted as a success. That is because the hospice raised the fundraising goal this year.

She said 4,779 raffle tickets were sold for the event. Money was also raised through sponsors including title sponsor Faurecia, and partnering sponsor, Columbus Regional Hospital.

Raffle winners were:

• $10,000 Grand Prize – Marvin Scott
• $500 – Mike Bradshaw
• $250 – Rebekah and Brian Walsh
• $150 – Nicolette Bradshaw
• $100 – Betsy Grant

The money raised will help support the care of dying patients and their families. This was the 33rd year for the concert series.

A semi driver was arrested after a Monday morning crash in Jackson County.

Indiana State Police say at approximately 4:30 a.m., troopers responded to the scene where a semi ran off the road and overturned on northbound I-65 near the 51.5 mile marker, just north of Seymour.

ISP’s initial investigation indicated a semi pulling an enclosed trailer driven by 56-year-old James M. Murphy, was traveling northbound on I-65 when the vehicle left the east side of the roadway. The semi struck a guardrail and overturned off the east side of the interstate.

During the initial investigation, troopers observed that Murphy was showing signs of being intoxicated. A roadside preliminary breath test indicated Murphy had a .26 percent BAC, more than three-times the legal limit. He was transported to Schneck Medical Center where a search warrant was served to obtain a blood sample from him. The toxicology results are pending.

Murphy was arrested on preliminary charges of Operating While Intoxicated and Operating with a BAC of .15 or greater. He was also cited for Open Container Violation and Disregarding a Traffic Control Device.

Neither Murphy nor an adult female passenger in the vehicle were injured and the investigation is ongoing.

The northbound lanes of I-65 remained closed for approximately eight hours for crash investigation and cleanup. All I-65 Northbound traffic was diverted onto US 50 and then to US 31 north from Seymour during the closure.

Two traffic switches are planned this week on the north and southbound lanes of I-65 as part of the reconstruction project in Jackson and Bartholomew counties.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says that, starting Monday night, Sept. 9, E&B Paving Inc. will shift southbound traffic back to the southbound side of I-65 from mile-marker 58.5 to mile-marker 56 near the Jackson/Bartholomew County line.

Following the switch, crews will move barrier wall during daytime hours to move northbound traffic to southbound lanes at the same location on Friday, Sept 13. In this configuration, all I-65 traffic will travel on the southbound side from mile-marker 61.2 to mile-marker 56.

INDOT says that drivers should continue to adhere to the 55 mph speed restriction and use extra caution in the ongoing construction zone between Columbus and Seymour. All trucks should continue to use the left lane for travel.

The project is expected to be complete by next August.