Commission votes to release $332K to STARS Foundation

Linn County Commission on Monday voted to release money to the STARS Foundation. The money has been targeted toward purchasing the building from the Pleasanton school district. (Journal file photo)

By Roger Sims

rsims@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – With one member of the Linn County Commission absent at its weekly meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, the two remaining commissioners voted to release $332,000 to the board of the STARS Foundation. The foundation oversees the Southeastern Technical Academy for Rural Students (STARS) job skills training program in Pleasanton.

The money was collected through a 1-mill tax in the county’s general budget during 2024. The tax levy was approved in 2023 when STARS Director Jay Allen and welding instructor Shane Kern appeared before the commission to request the commission set aside funds from 1 mill to help the school cover operating costs.

The vote to approve those funds was 2-to-1 with Commissioner Jim Johnson voting against it.

At the commission meeting on Sept. 2, Johnson restated his opposition, saying he didn’t approve of funds being released to the STARS Foundation board with what he saw as lack of accountability. The vote on releasing the money was delayed last week when only two commission members, Johnson and Jason Hightower, were present and the vote to release the funds would have been tied.

At that point, Johnson suggested waiting until Commissioner Alison Hamilton was able to vote at the Sept. 8 meeting. With Johnson absent on Monday, both Hamilton and Hightower voted to release the funds.

The money was not included in the 2026 budget, a budget where the commission is seeking to cut expenditures or find other resources to cover an $800,000 spread between proposed expenses and the revenue neutral tax rate it voted to meet. The revenue neutral rate is set by the state and essentially prevents the county from taking in more taxes than it did the previous year.

The money set aside for STARS would have wiped out a third of that difference if the commission decided not to give it to the school.

On Wednesday, Allen said he was told the check for STARS would be available later this month. Between the commission vote and receipt of the check, the foundation board will conduct a special meeting to discuss how to use the money. He said that the board will have a say on how every dime of the money is spent.

He said the expectation is that the STARS Foundation, which currently is a limited liability company, will use much of the money to purchase the building from Pleasanton USD 344. Allen said the Pleasanton school district has carried the expense of the STARS building since the program’s inception more than three years ago.

While Allen said that cost to transfer the title from the school district to the foundation had not been firmly established, he indicated that there would be about $100,000 remaining to make other improvements.

The release of the county money is the second positive news the program has received in the last couple months. A change in administration at Fort Scott Community College, which pays instructor salaries and recently approved a memorandum of understanding with the Pleasanton school district covering STARS’s operating expenses, has meant more support for the technical school.