Grafton

A 47-year-old drug dealer from Milwaukee was convicted in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday of first-degree reckless homicide for selling fentanyl to a Grafton man who overdosed on the drug and died last year. 

On Sept. 30, the day his trial was to begin, Tavares D. Kimbrough pleaded no contest to the homicide charge as well as one count of delivering fentanyl.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain accepted his pleas and found him guilty.

A cane corso named Diablo, who has bitten several people in the last decade, was determined to be a “dangerous dog” by Grafton Police Chief Jeff Caponera, a decision reaffirmed unanimously by the Grafton Village Board last week.

The board held a special meeting on Sept. 15 to hear an appeal by Diablo’s owner Troy Schallitz, who asked to have the “dangerous dog” designation repealed.

Caponera said he decided to designate Diablo as a dangerous dog after learning the dog had bitten three people in nine years, most recently a neighbor and her mother on July 26.

Grafton School District residents, albeit not many of them, approved a $14.3 million school tax levy at Monday’s annual meeting.

That includes $13.7 million in the general fund and $517,000 in the non-referendum debt service fund.

Residents, mostly staff members, also voted to give School Board members a raise. Officers’ pay will increase from $1,650 to $1,700 and general board members’ pay will increase from $1,550 to $1,600. Board members did not vote on that resolution.

The Grafton School District’s enrollment has risen for at least the second straight year and its tax rate is projected to fall for at least the fifth.

That’s according to numbers in the annual meeting information booklet.

Last year’s tax rate of $7.04 per $1,000 of equalized property value is estimated to fall 71 cents (10%) to $6.33.

That means the owner of a $300,000 home would pay $1,899 in school taxes, $214 less than last year. The owner of a $500,000 home would pay $3,165, which is $356 less than last year.