AUBURN - Voters will decide this fall whether to raise the city's allowance for energy spending.
The city council voted 4-0 Thursday in approval of putting a $15 million cap on any public utilities project the city pursues. The proposal will now go to the voters as a public referendum, which will be on the local ballot in the November election.
The proposed spending limit also includes a $10 million cap on bonding for any project. The city is currently allowed to spend no more than $2.5 million on energy projects.
The 4-0 vote, with Councilor Thomas McNabb absent, came after a public hearing during which two people spoke. One was former Auburn Mayor Timothy Lattimore, who told councilors he doesn't even know why the cap was put there in the first place.
The types of green energy projects the city should pursue, Lattimore said, will make money in the long run. But they will cost more than the current cap allows.
“If the project stands on its merits and it's going to produce energy, what's the difference if it's $10 million or $50 million?” he said during the hearing.
Auburn resident Dale Bush took his comments a step further and told council he would like to see the spending cap removed altogether. Even though Bush said he is not in favor of a lot of government spending, he also said he believes any cap could “tie the city's hands” on energy projects in the long run.
City officials have said the current cap makes it almost impossible to move forward on any major energy initiative. One of those potential projects is an anaerobic digester that would convert biosolids from the waste water treatment plant into natural gas and compost. That project has been estimated to cost between $6 million and $9 million.
The city is currently pairing up with a private firm to build and operate a power plant that will turn methane from the landfill into energy. The firm, CH-Auburn, will run the $6.2 million facility for 15 years before handing it over to the city.
Councilors Matthew Smith and William Graney agreed with Bush's comments that there should not be a spending cap at all. However, both also said they don't believe the that will fly with the voters.
“I'd rather see a cap and it pass than no cap and it not pass,” Graney said.
In other news:
* Councilors tabled a resolution to award the contract for the 2009 Community Development Block Grant sidewalk replacement program to W. Frandsen and Son, who gave the lowest bid of approximately $107,500.
Graney said during the meeting that a “credible” source told him the Spencer-based firm was planning on subcontracting the job to someone else. But William Lupien, the city's head superintendent, told Graney the company has not given any indication it would do such a thing.
Graney was going to vote against the item, but moved to table it at the suggestion of Corporation Counsel John Rossi.
* The city will pay Syracuse engineering firm Barton & Loguidice no more than $4,200 for engineering services needed related to the gas generator project at the landfill.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
The proposed spending limit also includes a $10 million cap on bonding for any project. The city is currently allowed to spend no more than $2.5 million on energy projects.
The 4-0 vote, with Councilor Thomas McNabb absent, came after a public hearing during which two people spoke. One was former Auburn Mayor Timothy Lattimore, who told councilors he doesn't even know why the cap was put there in the first place.
The types of green energy projects the city should pursue, Lattimore said, will make money in the long run. But they will cost more than the current cap allows.
“If the project stands on its merits and it's going to produce energy, what's the difference if it's $10 million or $50 million?” he said during the hearing.
Auburn resident Dale Bush took his comments a step further and told council he would like to see the spending cap removed altogether. Even though Bush said he is not in favor of a lot of government spending, he also said he believes any cap could “tie the city's hands” on energy projects in the long run.
City officials have said the current cap makes it almost impossible to move forward on any major energy initiative. One of those potential projects is an anaerobic digester that would convert biosolids from the waste water treatment plant into natural gas and compost. That project has been estimated to cost between $6 million and $9 million.
The city is currently pairing up with a private firm to build and operate a power plant that will turn methane from the landfill into energy. The firm, CH-Auburn, will run the $6.2 million facility for 15 years before handing it over to the city.
Councilors Matthew Smith and William Graney agreed with Bush's comments that there should not be a spending cap at all. However, both also said they don't believe the that will fly with the voters.
“I'd rather see a cap and it pass than no cap and it not pass,” Graney said.
In other news:
* Councilors tabled a resolution to award the contract for the 2009 Community Development Block Grant sidewalk replacement program to W. Frandsen and Son, who gave the lowest bid of approximately $107,500.
Graney said during the meeting that a “credible” source told him the Spencer-based firm was planning on subcontracting the job to someone else. But William Lupien, the city's head superintendent, told Graney the company has not given any indication it would do such a thing.
Graney was going to vote against the item, but moved to table it at the suggestion of Corporation Counsel John Rossi.
* The city will pay Syracuse engineering firm Barton & Loguidice no more than $4,200 for engineering services needed related to the gas generator project at the landfill.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
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