Unalaska, AK – The city council met for a brief meeting last week to discuss renewing the energy credit and other topics. Last year the council approved a monthly $60 energy rebate for all qualifying residential electric customers. That rebate ended in November. The program cost the city about $260,000. It was initially enacted to give residents relief from high energy costs. Now that oil prices have decreased significantly, from about $4 per gallon last year to $2.60 per gallon now, city staff recommends that the council allows the rebate to sunset.

Council member Roger Rowland, who voted against the rebate last year, agrees. He says the money should go toward large community projects, like mandatory utility upgrades. "Somewhere down the line something's going to suffer, and so I'm taking a very long term view and want to do things that benefit the entire community for a long term not a very small segment of the community for a very short term."

The energy rebate only helps residential customers and not businesses or industries.

Council member Zac Schasteen agrees that the program needs to end, but he says he thinks it should happen gradually and not right before a potentially harsh winter. He wants extend the credit but have it decrease every month by $10 until it expires in June.

"If we do an incremental decrease in the energy credit, I think it will give people the chance to effectively wean off that credit," he said.

The council discussed the issue during a work session and did not direct city staff to bring the issue before them again.

During the brief, one hour meeting, the council also approved two resolutions that allow the city to sell the $5 million general obligation bond that voters approved in 2005 to build the inner harbor of the new Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor. City Finance Director Tanya Miller said the bond will be fully reimbursed by the state's Department of Transportation.

"These bonds had to be voted on by the voters and they are backed by the full faith and credit of the City of Unalaska, just in case the legislature should not include [money to repay them] in their budget. I don't know that the legislature has ever not included that in the budget, but that's just the way that it had to be done."

The city plans on selling the bonds early next year. The current interest rate is only about four percent, the lowest it has been in 40 years. It is unknown exactly how much building the inner harbor will cost, but Pacific Pile and Marine's design proposal included a cost estimate of $24.5 million.

The council's next scheduled meeting is December 8.