New Sustainability Director Asks SLC Council for $300,000 from Future Energy Fund

None by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) The Salt Lake City Council will consider tonight whether to dip into a $500,000 fund earmarked for future energy-saving projects. Sustainability Director Vicki Bennett says she's fairly confident the council will agree to use nearly $300,000 from the fund for three proposals.

"It's money that was already earmarked for energy/sustainability work, and that's what they appropriated it for last year," Bennett says. "But part of the agreement - since we really hadn't narrowed down as to how we were going to specifically use it - was that when we determined how we wished to appropriate it, that we would bring it back to them."

The Sustainability Office is asking for $10,000 to join an effort with 9 other cities on a climate change public outreach program. Other participating cities include Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. A $25,000 appropriation would pay for a nationally-recognized sustainability expert to help Bennett develop a model code for the new office. This would include policies on key sustainability issues, such as energy conservation, food security, building standards, and transportation. The most expensive request would earmark $210,000 to pay for an energy audit of all city facilities, and $50,000 for a third-party audit of the results. Bennett says the cost of conducting the audit will be reclaimed in energy-savings.

"The whole idea of having an energy audit done is you will find that savings and get that money back," Bennett says. "Generally it is a 10 to 12-year payback period. But then after that, it's just pure savings to the taxpayers."

The city council decides tonight whether to fund each of Bennett's three proposals for the Energy Fund for the Future. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the City County Building. A work session held before the meeting runs from 2 to 6 p.m. and is open to the public.

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