By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A solar project at the city office and ballroom building could generate some big cost savings in New York Mills. 

During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the NY Mills City Council heard a presentation from West Central Initaitive Climate Resilience Officer Griffin Peck who shared the results of an expansive solar energy project in town. Specifically, Peck completed a study over the summer that looked at the potential benefits of installing solar energy panels on the city hall/ballroom building in the heart of town. 

“What I found is these buildings use a lot of energy,” said Peck. 

According to Peck, the city hall and ballroom buildings uses 256,000 kWh per year at a cost of $26,847. That amount is similar to the amount of electricity the City Center and police station uses as well. While his presentation focused mainly on city hall and the ballroom, Peck said the city council could look at adding solar panels to the City Center building in the future as well.

At a cost of $137,500, installing solar panels at the city hall building does come with a steep price, but due to a variety of tax credits and incentives, the overall cost to the City of NY Mills will decrease to just $12,500. One of the largest incentives is from Otter Tail Power Company which could award the city $70,000 to install solar panels, while a federal tax credit is available to cover $21,250 and a 10 percent made in America tax credit for $13,750 is also available for the city. Peck informed the city council that West Central Initiative may also award the city a $3,000 grant to bring that cost down even more.

As a result, the city could install solar power for the city hall and ballroom for $9,500-12,500. According to figures Peck presented to the city council, the solar project could pay for itself in just 30 months without a grant from West Central Initiative and just 24 months with the $3,000 grant through an estimated $4,700 annual savings in electricity. 

“It’s a really good prospect for the city,” said Peck. 

When accounting for inflation and rising costs, Peck said the city could save over $147,000 in electricity over the next 30 years, even after accounting for paying for the new solar panels. He said West Central Iniativie will also offer zero percent interest loans to cities who want to move forward with a solar project but do not have the necessary funds sitting in a rainy day fund to cover their portion of the project until the grants and tax credits come to fruition.

Some of the biggest questions from the city council and staff members on Tuesday night revolved around what would happen if the federal tax credits go away, as well as whose responsibility it would be to pay for maintenance and replacing the panels should sometime thing happen to them in the future.

Peck said each solar company is a bit different, but many companies offer a long-term maintenance agreement to cover the cost of repairs that ranges anywhere from $1,000-1,5000 per year. Even with that cost, Peck said the city would still save quite a bit of money annually by completing the project. 

The NY Mills City Council approved allowing West Central initiative to include the city in its request for proposals for a solar project, but will wait to see what the final bid numbers come in at before deciding whether to move forward with the project or not. 

In other news

• Heard the monthly liquor store report that showed net revenues for the month were down 12.6 percent as a percentage of sales from last year and the combined gross sales for the month were down 12 percent from last year. 

• Heard the monthly call report from the NY Mills Police Department that showed 92 calls for service during the month of January. There were three citations, 18 parking citations and 15 warnings that were issued last month.

• Heard the monthly public works department report from Public Works Director Kyle Mattson that showed the department is working with Minnesota Rural Water to go through the Wellhead Protection Plan to make sure it is up to date. The public works department also dealt with some plumbing issues at the City Center building that was similar to what happened at City Hall a few months ago. 

• Heard that Mattson and the public works department is monitoring frost levels throughout the community and has asked some residents to begin running water all the time to prevent lines from freezing up. Mattson said if the water temperature gets below 40 degrees residents may want to run their water. In the event water temperatures decrease and the residents run water all the time, they are asked to contact the city office so they can adjust the billing accordingly. 

• Approved a high bid from Freshwater Education District to purchase the Toro unit in the amount of $8,618. The public works department received two bids for the Toro unit.

• Acknowledged a $15,000 grant from the Community and Economic Development Associates Rural Capacity Program. The grant includes professional hours and the $15,000 grant.