Briefcase
State unemployment tax rate going up
Washington’s unemployment insurance tax rate will increase to an average 3.26 percent next year because jobless workers received a record $2 billion in benefits in the past year, the Employment Security Department said Wednesday.
The unemployment trust fund collected only $1.2 billion during the year, but retained a $2.5 billion balance as of Nov. 30, the department said.
The 2011 rate will be the highest since 1988. The 2009 rate was the lowest in 40 years but increased to an average 2.39 percent this year as unemployment rates climbed to near double-digit levels.
The state’s 170,000 employers will pay rates ranging from 1.33 percent to 6 percent on the first $37,000 in worker earnings. Employers delinquent on past payments or too new to have established a claims history will pay as much as 8.64 percent.
Bert Caldwell
Dealership ordered to repay $2.1 million
Owners of a Post Falls motorcycle dealership, Beaudry Motors, were ordered by a court in Coeur d’Alene to repay $2.1 million in default loans.
Wells Fargo Bank won a default judgment against Steve and Stephanie Beaudry, owners of Beaudry Motors, Inc. in Post Falls.
Steve Beaudry said he had no comment on his options and wouldn’t discuss how the default affects the business. He said he hopes to move the motorcycle dealership to another site.
An Idaho federal district court judge ordered the Beaudrys to pay off two bank loans to Wells Fargo. As of this week the total owed is roughly $2.12 million, including interest.
The judge ordered a default judgment when the Beaudrys failed to file a response by the deadline. Trevor Hart, a Boise attorney representing the bank, said he could not comment on what steps Wells Fargo may take to recover the amount owed.
Tom Sowa
KXLY executive stepping down
Steve Herling will retire as executive vice president and general manager of the KXLY Broadcast Group after 28 years in that role, the company said Wednesday.
The KXLY Broadcast Group is a Morgan Murphy Media company, and Herling has worked for that company for 41 years. He now will become senior vice president of special projects for Morgan Murphy Media.
Teddie Gibbon, the vice president and station manager of KXLY-TV, will become vice president and general manager with overall direction of the KXLY TV operation.
Brian Paul will become vice president and general manager of the KXLY Radio Group. He is the current radio market manager.
The changes take effect Jan. 1.
Staff report
Hayden company lands missile contract
Hayden-based Transtector Systems has won a $4.6 million contract to build panels used by the Air Force to protect Minuteman missile control systems from attack.
The award was announced by Smiths Interconnect, a global corporation with extensive programs in research and defense contracts. Transtector Systems is part of Smiths Interconnect.
The Air Force contract is based on three years of testing and development by Transtector engineers, the news release said. The panels are designed to resist EMP damage; EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse, a surge in electrical radiation that can fry equipment and circuit boards, leaving them useless.
The surge protection devices developed at Transtector Systems are used in communications systems in military vehicles, watercraft, aircraft and facilities.
Tom Sowa