Energy grants eyed for JoCo Courthouse
From our weekly issue dated June 24, 2009
If all goes according to plan, Josephine County could obtain grant funds to make the courthouse in Grants Pass more energy-efficient and save money.
The county commissioners discussed a list of three projects aimed at achieving those goals during their Friday, June 19 administrative meeting in the county courthouse in Grants Pass.
Toler said that he has taken the idea to representatives from the state Dept. of Energy in Salem. Josephine is one of 10 counties in Oregon that could qualify for a total of $343,200 in grants to fund energy-efficiency projects for public facilities, Toler said.
Toler added that the grants are funded through federal stimulus dollars.
An energy trust conducted an audit of the county’s possible projects, which helped officials determine which could be funded through the grants.
Those three projects include an upgrade and centralization of the courthouse’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning control systems, which now are all separate. Also up for consideration is a change in the building’s air distribution system, and converting from an electric to a hot water heating system.
Toler said that those three projects would save the county at least $125,000 per year in utility payments, a savings of 20 to 25 percent. The county currently spends around $500,000 per year for electricity, he said.
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In a Wednesday, June 17 memorandum to BCC, county Chief Financial Officer Rosemary DeLashmutt stated that the three projects would cost the county around $575,000. The county would pay for the projects, then be reimbursed at a later date for $138,000 in energy rebates from the state and $70,000 in tax credits, for a total of $208,000, DeLashmutt wrote.
Those incentives, combined with grant funds, would bring the net cost of the three projects down to $24,000 for the county, she wrote.
The county property reserve fund has $1.4 million set aside for general government cost that is not currently allocated to any specific projects, DeLashmutt wrote. Those funds could cover initial costs of the improvements, she noted.
Toler moved to recommend the three projects for grant consideration, and to submit the application to the state prior to a June 25 deadline. Cassanelli seconded, and the motion passed 3-0 with Chairman Dwight Ellis joining the OK.
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