Several months after learning one firm was declining its request to conduct a mass appraisal of the county, the Custer County Commission received a bid from another firm that offered to conduct the appraisal for $1.5 million. If approved, the appraisal would begin in the fall of 2023.
Property assessments were again a large topic of discussion at the most recent meeting of the Custer County Commission, as the commission discussed answers it received to questions it posed to the state’s Department of Revenue (DOR) regarding the property valuation process.
The commission asked DOR if the equalization office can assess land based on a tiered value approach as it has recently done. The tiered approach sees the equalization office set a value on the first acre that is higher than the value set for acres two through nine, 10 through 19, etc.
Standardized test results were the main topic of discussion at the July 11 meeting of the Custer School Distric Board of Education, as the board, along with school administrators, discussed a battery of annual test results that included state testing as well as NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAPS) test.
Custer Mile High Garden Club (GC) will host the 16th Annual Avis Hespen Memorial Garden Tour from 1-4 p.m., Sunday, July 24. Hespen and her sister Caroline Hatton were founding members of the local GC in January 1996. The terrific twosome shared garden witticisms, sound gardening practices, seeds, bulbs and cuttings quite liberally.
Hespen would say, “I like any color, as long as it’s red!” Therefore, GC members will wear red on the day of the tour.
More than three full days of family fun are coming up this weekend as the town of Custer celebrates the 99th annual Gold Discovery Days (GDD). Folks from around the region and former Custer residents from all over the country will be in town to participate in the reunions, parade, carnival, arts and crafts festival, gold panner races and many other activities as the summer season hits its high point.
Affective Aug. 1, Custer City Hall will be open from 8 a.m. to noon and closed in the afternoon on Fridays to allow city office employees to catch up on their work.
The hour changes were approved at the July 5 meeting of the Custer City Council after the council was told office staff has become overwhelmed with people coming to the office throughout the course of the week and closing the office Friday afternoons from noon to five would go a long way to allowing office staff to catch up on work since they would not be having to answer questions, field phone calls, etc.
The City of Custer has begun research to move toward the creation of a committee to investigate, and ultimately, it hopes, solve the affordable housing issue in Custer, but it has not budged on its decision to put a moratorium on new vacation rentals in residential areas within city limits.
One of the parade marshals for this Saturday's Gold Discovery Days (GDD) Parade certainly earned his stripes for the job! Lifelong Custer resident Steve Baldwin started at the bottom of the GDD food chain by playing a skunk in the old GDD Pageant for several years when he was a kid.
Steve and Judy Baldwin will ride in this year’s parade with their grown daughters, Dawn and Tammy (who grew up in Custer but now live in Denver) riding by their side and their granddaughters walking alongside throwing candy to kids along the route.
“The roads downtown have already been blocked by cars with blue and red flashing lights and the big yellow signs you set up with your dad earlier that morning. The feelings of stress, anxiety and excitement can be felt within a 10 mile radius of the parade lineup. Sounds of four-wheelers, ecstatic voices, candy bags rustling, last-minute decorating...and dogs barking can be heard throughout the back streets of this little town of Custer.”
A Friday evening concert this Gold Discovery Days should be a big fundraiser for both Custer YMCA and the Custer High School girls basketball team, despite two of the principles in making the concert happen having suffered a painful breakup in their youth.
OK, so maybe it wasn’t that painful. It was the third grade, afterall.
