By Nate Smith, Staff Writer
City electric users will see their rates rise early next year. By how much is not known.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, Raj Rao with the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, the city’s power provider, said starting early next year, IMPA’s rates at which they sell power to the city will go up 14 percent.
The reason, Rao said, was increases in fuel and other costs, like infrastructure and future investments.
“It’s not what we want to see but we want to show you all why your bills are increasing,” Rao said. “
Rao gave examples of price increases, such as coal doubling in price in three years and due to high construction costs, a proposed power plant that IMPA is a partner in building in Illinois has doubled in cost in five years.
Mayor Larry Haag said the city would have to raise its electric rates, the first time in 20 years, to compensate. He compared wasteful electric use to drug addiction and said the city could save 30 percent in electric use easily.
“We have no other choice but to raise our rates because our expenses are going up,” Haag said. “The more juice you pull through that meter, the more you are going to pay. That’s simple economics.”
Haag said he didn’t know what he and Utility Office Manager Anita Ash were going to do for some utility customers.
“What are we going to do in January or February when we have Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Haag come through and we know she is working three jobs and she can’t pay her electric bill?” Haag said. “We are going to have to shut her off.”
Haag, after Rao’s explanation of why their rates would increase, said the city and its residents have to focus on conservation and “change the culture in Washington, Indiana.”
“First of all, we need to educate ourselves,” Haag said. “Then, we need to educate the citizens of Washington.”
Even city government would have to become more efficient, Haag said. He joked about sitting between two incandescent, instead of compact fluorescent, light bulbs at the city council chambers.
“We need true change, because you get the same utility out of that compact fluorescent bulb than a regular bulb,” Haag said. “The only difference is, you pay about 40 percent less.”
Rao agreed. He asked city government to help get the word out on energy conservation. This week, a city utility employee will be learning energy conservation at a seminar in Indianapolis. Haag said that employee, lineman Dustin Smith, will be taking the lessons he learns to local schools and groups and teach energy conservation.
“Once we (educate ourselves), we can embrace and empower those new technologies and push them down to the consumers,” Haag said.
There are city departments that are already getting greener. The street department already takes cardboard from area businesses to sell and the stormwater department is holding a recycling challenge with area schools. Sam Quast of stormwater said the city’s recycling trailer will be brought to schools for two days and the school with the highest weight of recyclable goods per child will win a movie day, with concessions, at their school.
Every Monday, children at Head Start bring their family’s recyclable goods to the city trailer. Also, the Washington High School student council is looking for ways to make their school green.
Even with the rise in rates, Rao said their rates on electricity were still lower than what other customers like those of Duke and Vectren are paying.
“Compared to our competitors, our rates are significantly low,” Rao said. “But that’s not a justification, when you are paying more money, it’s going to cost you more.”
He also asked city officials to help them lobby state and federal government to help ease federal regulations on expensive equipment like scrubbers that clean coal exhaust of greenhouse gases. Although Rao believed in helping the environment, he said there has to be a balance to help industry thrive.
“We need to balance between the environment and expenses,” Rao said. “The electricity costs are too high will affect manufacturing and jobs but at the same time, if the air is polluted, it is not good either.”
Although there has been a rate study commissioned by the city, the results of the H.J. Umbaugh study were not released Monday. Since the council voted out of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission almost two years ago, the council could raise rates with a simple vote and not have to go through the state.
In other business
POLICE PURCHASES
The council voted 6-0 to transfer $60,000 in the Police Department budget to purchase new equipment. The money, Chief Steve Riney said, came from unpaid wages of two officers who are serving with the National Guard in Iraq.
Among the items that will be purchased are new police radios, video equipment repair in the squad cars and recorders for the dispatchers.
Not related to the transfer, the council and the Board of Public Works and Safety opened bids for six new squad cars. Four bids, from Washington Chrysler, Bill Dobson Ford, Bloomington Ford and Ruxer Ford were opened with the lowest from Ruxer for six 2009 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers for $110,110.
The board tabled the bids so Riney can review the specifications of each of the bids and will make a formal recommendation to the board at the council’s Nov. 24 meeting.
HANDICAPPED SIGNS
The board unanimously approved the creation of two handicapped spots on Main Street in front of both the American Legion post and the Eagles lodge. A recommendation came from both Riney and Street Department Commissioner Ernie Evans for the spaces.
Before the vote, both board members Joe Fleck and John Gray wondered if the spaces would be misused and if a time limit should be placed on them.
But since there are no time limits on any handicapped spaces on Main Street, the board decided to vote for the spaces.
LEAF PICKUP
Evans told the council that starting Monday, leaf pickup will start in Area 1, the area east of SR 57 and south of E. National Hwy. Evans said he wants to have two rounds of leaf pickup this year to save on fuel costs. City residents were reminded to separate their leaves from sticks and trash.
VACATE PETITION
The council heard a request from Ralph and Mary Smith for the city to vacate the right of way of an alley between S.E. First and S.E. Second streets.
The alley runs between the property the Smiths own and they asked for the petition for safety purposes. All the property owners adjacent to the Smiths were contacted and no problems were reported.
The request for the vacate petition was tabled so that utility easements could be determined and entered into the vacation request.
