Budget woes could derail conservation

The Ashland City Council's goal to increase the effectiveness of the city's conservation program is set against a stark budget picture.

Adding a new person to the city of Ashland's conservation division and increasing funding for programs would cost $98,000, according to Electric Department Director Dick Wanderscheid.

Those additions are not included in the Electric Department's proposed $13.07 million budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The proposed budget is down from this fiscal year's budget of $13.41 million.

In coming weeks, the Citizens' Budget Committee will have to decide whether to add money for a new staff person and more programs for the Electric Department's conservation division. The committee tentatively approved the Electric Department budget for the next fiscal year without those add-ons last week.

The overall city budget is proposed to increase from $91.86 million this fiscal year to $95.17 million for the next fiscal year. That would require property tax and utility bill increases, costing an average homeowner about $86 more for the year.

Ashland already has achieved significant conservation with its existing staff of three conservation analysts. The analysts do everything from advise residents on home solar systems to help businesses become more green. The city also has rebate programs in effect to help offset the cost of solar electric and hot water systems, energy-efficient refrigerators and other improvements.

Although per capita electricity use has risen in Oregon and the United States as a whole, per capita use in Ashland has fallen from 8,483 kilowatts per person per year in 1982 to 8,324 kilowatts in 2006.

"These numbers demonstrate the remarkable effectiveness of the city's conservation efforts since 1982," Wanderscheid wrote in a recent memo to councilors.

The decline comes even though computers, video games, high definition televisions, microwave ovens, electric hot tubs and air conditioning are in more widespread use today, he said.

The city launched water conservation efforts in the early 1990s. By offering rebates on low-water use toilets, showerheads, washing machines and dishwashers, as well as finding and repairing water line leaks, structuring rates to discourage high water use and changing plumbing codes, the city of Ashland has helped the community save about 440,000 gallons of water per day, according to Wanderscheid's memo.

Although Ashland has experienced success, conserving electricity and water will become even more important in the future.

In 2011, the Bonneville Power Administration will change its wholesale rates so that electricity retailers like the Ashland Electric Department will pay significantly more for additional electricity beyond a baseline level.

Combined with new state mandates that a percentage of electricity come from renewable sources, that could push up rates from $27 per megawatt to $67 per megawatt for any extra electricity that communities buy. That increases the monetary value of conservation, Wanderscheid told Citizens Budget Committee members last week.

"Now your avoided cost is not $27, it's $67," he said, explaining how future rates will affect the city and its electric customers.

Conserving water is important because the city has a limited supply of Ashland Creek water, which it stores in Reeder Reservoir above Lithia Park. The city is investing money to build its share of the Talent-Ashland-Phoenix water pipeline that will bring supplemental water from Medford to Ashland.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com. To post a comment, visit www.dailytidings.com.