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City council approved an electric aggregation program with Dynegy Energy Services Tuesday night, locking in a rate of less than a nickel per kilowatt hour for four years, just as prices are rising.
"This is a good deal for the citizens of Salem," Councilman Geoff Goll said.
City council's Utilities Committee, which Goll chairs, agreed last week to recommend the proposal from Aspen Energy as broker for Dynegy Energy after First Energy Solutions took themselves out of the running by saying the company could not match the rate of .04980 per kilowatt hour for 48 months. The deal also includes a flat enrollment fee of $5 per customer, which will mean money for the city.
The current contract with First Energy Solutions expires in December, so Mayor John Berlin said he's expecting the first reading at the new rate will occur in December. He noted that citizens currently enrolled in the city's electric aggregation program won't have to do a thing to get the new rate, but anyone who isn't in the program will likely have to call to opt in. Letters will be sent to residents later this summer, possibly in August, giving them the option of opting out of the new program.
He said more details will be available at a later date. He had advised council that the representative from Aspen told him the rate would increase as of today if the deal wasn't approved by
council Tuesday night.
In other business, council authorized appropriations, including $24,000 from gas tax and license fees to the capital outlay building improvement fund for the construction of another salt storage barn. Berlin said this will allow the city to purchase all of its salt order up front and not have to worry about possibly running out. In previous years, the city couldn't take all of its salt order up front due to not having enough storage. City Auditor Betty Brothers noted the city didn't run out of salt last year, but this is just to make sure they don't run out if the winter is bad.
The appropriations, which were discussed during a Finance Committee meeting preceding the council meeting, also included an additional $4,000 for overtime for police during the Salem Super Cruise, which kicks off Thursday, plus an additional $14,000 for miscellaneous services related to the cruise and $1,000 for printing. The money is coming from the municipal event fund. Brothers said this is the first time the cruise has gone overbudget, meaning over what she had budgeted. She said the money is available in the municipal events fund to cover the additional appropriations. The money comes from advertising fees and vendor licenses during the cruise.
The extra overtime was requested for two officers to provide security for a high-valued vehicle appearing at the cruise.
Council also held first reading for the 2019 tax budget, which has to be submitted to Columbiana County. Brothers said the estimated revenue is listed as $5,391,400 and the expected expenses total $6,030,012, with a more than $1 million cash carryover expected to keep the city finances in the black. Brothers said a tax budget hearing will be held at 6:45 p.m. June 19, prior to the next council meeting. The tax budget is available for review in either the auditor's officer or the mayor's office, both on the second floor of Salem City Hall.
Council approved the alternative method of apportionment for the Local Government Funds, but Councilman Geoff Goll said he would like to look more closely at the formula sometime in the future. He had been questioning the way the totals are figured for the distribution.
Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart reported the next Utilities Commission meeting is 4 p.m. June 14.
mgreier@salemnews.net