SIOUX CITY — Kim Phuong Taylor, the Sioux City woman sentenced to a short prison term for voter fraud earlier this month, on Tuesday appealed her conviction.
Taylor in recent days had changed attorneys, moving from a private firm attorney, now to a court-appointed attorney, due to financial hardship. Taylor’s appeal was first reported by the Sioux City Journal on Tuesday, and her case will be heard in a circuit court of appeals.
A jury in fall 2023 found Taylor guilty of 52 counts of voter fraud, ruling she had illegally filled out election documents and ballots for members of the Vietnamese community, who had limited ability to read and understand English.
She was sentenced on April 1 by Federal Judge Leonard Strand to a rare split sentence, with four months in prison, followed by four months home confinement, and followed by two years of supervised release.
She is the wife of Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor. Prosecutors said she pursued unlawful means to help her husband, who ran for two electoral positions as a Republican candidate in 2020.
Additionally, the Sioux City School District will operate with a $197 million general fund budget for the 2024-25 year, with a slight drop in the tax rate that property owners pay.
The Sioux City School Board in a Monday meeting adopted the budget after three months of meetings. No one from the public spoke about the budget at the meeting, while School Board member Treyla Lee said the budget process was thorough.
The property tax levy rate for next year will drop from $12.44 per $1,000 of property value to $12.38.
District officials at one point had estimated that the Legislature would give 3 percent supplemental growth in state aid to all K-12 schools. Since the final total from the state was the lesser 2.5 percent, the budget draws $4 million from general fund reserves to complete the budget, district Finance Director Patty Blankenship explained.
The budget also doesn’t include changes adopted by the Legislature in late March to increase beginning teacher pay, as that came too late to fit into the budget. The FY 2025 budget will be amended later to include the higher teacher salaries that may result.
In other news, the $2.6 million project to construct a trail bridge to connect recreation trails in Sioux City and Dakota Dunes has gotten another financial boost.
The Sioux City Council members in their Monday meeting officially accepted a $64,000 donation from the Siouxland Trails Foundation.
The recreation bridge will be built this year over the Big Sioux River that divides Iowa and South Dakota.
Trail users for years have sought the linkage to have more miles and options for travel.
