State Budget Includes $1M for Powerhouse
Monday, May 05 2014
Unalaska is getting $1 million from the state to install the fourth engine at the powerhouse.
The appropriation is part of the state’s new budget. It passed during the legislative session that ended in late April.
The $1 million is less than the city had originally requested. City manager Chris Hladick says they’d hoped to get $4.5 million to cover the entire cost of installing the new engine.
But he says they’re glad to be getting any money at all -- and it comes as a surprise, with funding tight across the state this year.
The city will probably have to dip into its general fund to pay the remaining cost for the fourth engine. Hladick says the funding gap could impact the cost of electricity at the plant, but they’ll work to keep any rate increase to a minimum.
The new engine is set to come online Jan. 1 of next year.
Innocent bystander on Wednesday, May 07 2014:
Doesn't it seem like every time the city spends "big" bucks in the name of progress, it always translates into higher costs for the end user!? I.E. The landfill and waste water treatment. Seems more like poor planning than progress.
Don't get it on Tuesday, May 06 2014:
City has not grown - no new businesses, no increase in housing, processors produce their own electricity - Why is City installing a 4th engine? Better idea is to get federal government to subsidize Fiber Optic cable to our island - so we can get with the 21st century and have high speed internet