More than 30 teams of students from at least 18 area high schools will participate in the 22nd annual Academic High School Language Bowl at the University of Southern Indiana on Monday, April 16. Check-in is from 9 to 9:30 a.m., language rounds are from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., and a song competition starts at 11 a.m. in Carter Hall in the University Center.

The USI Department of Modern and Classical Languages hosts the annual event in which students test their skills in French, German, Latin, and Spanish. Dr. Silvia Anna Rode, chair of the department, said, “Students have great fun participating in the language bowl. It gives them an opportunity to use the language and gain confidence while interacting with students from other high schools. The event also provides an opportunity for USI language faculty to connect with high school language teachers to better understand and support their professional needs.”

High schools may bring teams of five students to compete. Question and answer rounds consist of 20 questions plus five tie-breakers. Questions may be based on language or culture-specific knowledge. In addition, students may compete in a song competition that inspires creativity and that demonstrates language skills in an artistic context. Student groups of no more than eight and no less than four sing in the language they are studying.

While the high school teams are on campus, they meet and talk to USI faculty and students. Foreign language faculty act as facilitators and USI students assist with registration, contests, and refreshments.

The awards ceremony is sponsored by the USI foundation.

Source: USI.edu

Vanderburgh County property owners will begin receiving their property tax bills in the mail on Thursday, April 12. Vanderburgh County Treasurer Rick Davis said the bills were postmarked April 11 – 30 days before the spring payment due date. The additional 15 days’ notice is a 67% average increase in the amount of notice taxpayers receive in order to pay their bills when compared to the years 2003 through 2009.

“This effort was a direct result of a lot of dedicated employees who work in the assessor’s office, the auditor’s office, and the treasurer’s office working together for mutual benefit of the taxpayer,” said Davis, who is in his fourth year as County Treasurer. Davis noted that between the years 2003 and 2009, Vanderburgh County taxpayers were given a notice of an average of 18 days between the postmark date on the tax bills’ envelopes and the spring due date.

Since that time, the average has increased to about 33 days in 2010, 2011 and 2012, an 83 percent increase in advanced notice for taxpayers. In 2011, taxpayers received 41 days’ notice – partially due to shorter session at the Indiana Statehouse, sasid Davis.

“This year, the statehouse was in session for a longer period of time and lawmakers tinkered with the idea of passing legislation that would have affected this year’s property taxes, so counties throughout the state had to hold off on the very complicated, tedious task of calculating the bills,” Davis said. “As a result, it affected our ability to begin printing sooner.

“But once we started printing the bills in-house, it only took the Treasurer’s Office about 5 full days to print, fold, and insert bills into more than 68,000 envelopes,” Davis added. “My co-workers did a tremendous job of getting taxpayers this important information in a timely manner. And that’s important, because giving homeowners and business owners these bills with a month’s notice is a top priority. There are folks living on a fixed income who need to be able to budget their expenses in order to pay their property taxes, so this is a big achievement for local property owners.”

Davis also reminds taxpayers that the Civic Center “back 40” parking lot is undergoing major construction and stressed that in order to avoid parking problems or enhanced Civic Center Security measures to utilize the county’s drop box in front of the Civic Center or to visit one of 20 local Old National Bank locations that accept property tax payments. Old National has branches in Evansville, Newburgh, Boonville, Fort Branch, Hatfield, Princeton and Mount Vernon in Indiana as well as two branches in Henderson, Ky., that accept Vanderburgh County property tax payments. All of the branch locations are listed with the property tax bills.

Property owners will receive both the spring and fall property tax bills in the same envelope in order to cut down on postage costs. The Spring Installment due date is May 10 and the Fall Installment due date is Nov. 13.

Davis mentioned that if anyone has questions about their property tax bills to contact the appropriate office immediately rather than waiting until the deadline day.

“If you feel your property is assessed too high, meaning you do not feel your property is worth what the assessor has given for a value of your property, contact the Assessor at (812) 435-5260 as soon as possible,” said Davis. “If you discover that you have lost or deserve an exemption or a credit on your taxes, contact the Auditor’s Office at (812) 435-5293 as soon as possible. The sooner you contact these offices to discuss these issues, the sooner your issue will be resolved.”

Davis noted there are several ways for property tax owners to pay for their bills.

In addition to visiting Old National Bank, taxpayers can also pay online at www.VanderburghTreasurer.org for a 2.75% convenience fee using a debit or credit card. Online users may also pay their bills for a $3 fee by using an E-Check. Property taxes may also be paid via phone by calling 1-800-2PAY-TAX with the jurisdiction code of 2405, also for a 2.75% user fee.

Tax bills can also be mailed to the Treasurer at PO Box 77, Evansville, IN 47701-0077, or they can be paid in person at the Treasurer’s Office, Room 210, Civic Center, during working hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To avoid potential long lines in the Treasurer’s Office, or to avoid going through Civic Center security, taxpayers may use the drop box located in front of the Civic Center. Please enclose a self-addressed envelope if you’d like a receipt from drop box payments or payments submitted by mail.

For questions concerning property tax bills or payments, taxpayers may call the Treasurer’s Office at 435-5248.

Property tax billing information has been online since March 29, giving taxpayers 43 days advance notice of their billing amounts.

Please join Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, members of the Evansville Board of Park
Commissioners and the Greenway Advisory Board for a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow, April
12, at 2 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Grove Street near the entrance to Henry Fligeltaub Company,
a recycling recovering center. The ceremony will be held to mark the beginning of construction on the
final phase of the Pigeon Creek Greenway.

Are you a sun worshipper? Do you like the water? How about kids
and the smell of chlorine? If you answered “yes” to these questions do we have a deal for
you! The Department of Parks and Recreation is offering a Lifeguard Certification class
at Lloyd Pool, 6101 N. First Avenue. The class schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, April 18 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 21 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 23 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Wednesday, April 25 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 28 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 30 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 2 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Lifeguards candidates must be at least 15 years old. The cost for the class is $128.
Call Lloyd Pool at 435-6085 by April 16, 2012 to register and pick up required forms.
Attendance is required at all classes.