NEWS: Thursday March 11, 2010Posted by Janine Mayfield on March 11th, 2010
While the board has until June to approve it, the Gunnison Watershed RE1J School District is looking at ways to cut over $900,000 from next year’s budget. According to Gunnison Country Times, it’s possible there will be cutbacks, but definitely not in any teaching staff. The district is urging all departments to cut back on simple things such as paper and pencils. School Finance Director Stephanie Juneau will present the school board with a draft 2010-2011 budget later this month. Most of the cuts are attributed to State cutbacks.
Source: Gunnison Country Times (Posted 10:45a)
The University of Colorado regents are considering whether to raise tuition by 9 percent for in-state students and 5 percent for new out-of-state students. KJCT says the regents discussed the increase yesterday and scheduled a vote for March 29. They say they’re reluctant to raise students’ costs but say they face a crisis because of declining state funding.
Source: KJCT/AP (Posted 10:44a)
A woman was killed yesterday by a rock that fell onto the car she was riding in on U.S. Highway 40 near Steamboat Springs. U.S. 40 is one of two main detour routes around a large rockslide on I-70 in Glenwood Canyon. Colorado State Patrol tells NBC 11 News that woman was the only person injured in the incident that happened just after 7:00am. CDOT says this is a very rare area for a rock slide, and that only one rock fell.
Source: NBC 11 News (Posted 9:42a)
US Department of Labor sues trustee of abandoned IXP Inc. 401(k) plan in Fruita, Colo. The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Denver against the former president and owner of IXP Inc., Fruita, Colo., for abandoning the company’s 401(k) plan as its trustee after the company ceased operations in January 2009. IXP Inc. installed gasoline distribution pipelines.
The suit alleges that Carl N. France violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when he failed to administer the 401(k) plan after the company ceased to operate, thereby depriving participants of their retirement benefits.
“When an employee benefit plan is abandoned, so are the workers who invested in it,” said Steve Eischen, regional director of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration’s regional office in Kansas City, Mo. “We took this legal action so the plan will be properly managed and its participants can access the funds that rightly belong to them.”
The suit asks the court to appoint GTrust of Topeka, Kan., to serve as the independent fiduciary in order to terminate the plan and distribute its remaining assets to participants. As of Sept. 29, 2009, the 401(k) plan had 21 participants and assets totaling $104,216.02.
The suit resulted from an investigation by EBSA’s Kansas City Regional Office. Employers and workers can contact that office at 816-285-1800 or toll-free at 866-444-3272 for help with problems relating to private sector pension and health plans.
In fiscal year 2009, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.3 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families. Additional information can be found at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Source: Press Release (Posted 9:33a)