By Dennis Brown

Meeting in regular session last week, the Vanceburg Electric Plant Board learned that the utility company will be going into the winter season with less financial reserves than usual.

Plant Board Superintendent Eric Bloomfield told board members that the seven monthly payments of $51,000 each to the company’s electric supplier, coupled with other factors, has resulted in the utility company going into the winter months with less money on-hand than he had hoped.

The monthly payments are the result of a “true-up” in which the local utility company pays the supplier based on actual costs of producing electricity for the previous year. The true-up payments are in addition to the monthly payments made to the supplier after the supplier has determined actual rates based on costs.

Bloomfield said the monthly cost for purchased power has increased and that, due to the mild summer, sales for electricity to their customers are down about 20 percent from the previous year.

Bloomfield said the utility company is now purchasing natural gas and putting it into storage for the winter months at a much lower rate than the cost was only a few months earlier.

He told board members that the utility company had received an assessment of about $29,000 following a recent state sales tax audit and said he would be appealing the assessment to try to get it lowered.

Bloomfield said part of the assessment was related to sales tax on school tax and a large portion of the assessment was a result of not charging sales tax on second meters and non-residential meters.

Bloomfield updated board members on progress being made on a project to separate the storm sewer from the sanitary sewer system in Vanceburg.

He said the project must be completed by January 2012, as mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is expected to cost about $5 million.

Funding, he said, is expected to be financed primarily through grants, including a $2 million EDA grant, $500,000 ARC grant, $1 million Community Development Block Grant, $300,000 EPA grant and $500,000 in state and federal

 appropriations.

Bloomfield said that to qualify for the direct federal grant money the utility company must follow procurement guidelines and develop a facility plan along with an environmental impact study.

He estimates the facility plan will cost about $30,000 and said the environmental impact study will run about $500,000. That process, including procurement of engineering, is estimated to take from 18 to 24 months.

In other business, Bloomfield reported that an application for grants to purchase electric generators for the utility company had been denied. He also told board members a grant that had been approved by the state in 2006 and had been assigned to another project could not be received without an act by state legislature.

He told board members that a $500,000 grant had been applied for to construct a section of six-inch water line and add three new fire hydrants in the Meadowbrook and Indian Hills area. He also reported that the project to separate the combined sewer system in Vanceburg had been placed at the top of the funding list for the Buffalo Trace Area Development District.

Plant Board members approved an application to FEMA for reimbursement to repair storm damage and approved financial reports and payment of invoices before adjourning.

He said that cushion has been depleted since the utility company had to pay a “true-up” to the electric supplier. He said a true-up is the amount paid each year after the supplier assembles all the costs and then bills utilities for the amounts above what was paid each month, as called for in their contracts.

He said the true-up paid to AEP this year was about $460,000, up from about $40,000 in previous years. He added that the utility company is now paying above market rate for power.

Bloomfield outlined some of his goals and said he would continue to improve and maintain the plant board systems, keep rates as affordable as the market will allow, supply new customers and maintain the high level of service that customers have come to expect.

Council members approved the minutes of the previous meeting before adjourning.

Lewis County Fiscal Court met in an extended regular session last week approving numerous items dealing with a Community Development Block Grant for the Garrison Sewer Project and hearing proposals from companies who want to manage health care for jail inmates.

James Kemper, a marketing representative with Southern Health Partners, and Michael Coffee, a client service coordinator with Advanced Correctional Healthcare, each addressed magistrates with proposals to provide a health plan for the jail.

Each proposed providing nursing services at the detention center along with a medical director, or medical administrator, to make decisions concerning the health care of inmates.

Jailer Tim Underwood said that contracting with such a service could save money for the county and would help reduce liability for the county.

Underwood said the costs of supplying medical services to inmates have risen dramatically in the past few years and decisions to send an inmate for emergency medical treatment are difficult for non-medical personnel at the detention center to make.

County Treasurer Kathy Dillow said that hospital bills for inmates totaled about $41,000 last fiscal year and that the costs had doubled from the year before.

The county is responsible for medical bills incurred for the treatment of county inmates.

Although no final decision on the matter was made, it was discussed later by the Detention Center Advisory Committee and recommended for further consideration after more information could be put together for review.

Magistrates approved several matters dealing with grant funds for the Garrison Wastewater Project. Judge Executive Steve Applegate explained that the required resolutions and 

budget amendments were necessary to follow the requirements associated with receiving federal funding for the project.

Magistrates approved the appointment of Kelly Armstrong as treasurer for the Kinniconick Volunteer Fire Department Taxing Board and approved a resolution accepting ownership, maintenance and operations of a recently completed bridge at Skidmore Lane near Garrison. The $600,000 bridge replacement was funded by the state.

Magistrates approved a resolution adopting and approving the execution of an agreement between fiscal court and the Kentucky Department of Transportation for road aid. Applegate said the $210,856 will pay for repaving and some initial blacktopping on prioritized county roads.

Magistrates approved assisting the Lewis County Conservation District by paying their office space annual rent of $1,650 and approved purchasing a new vehicle for the road supervisor.

Applegate said the state contract price on a Ford F-250 diesel powered four-door truck is $32,668. He said the vehicle will replace one which has been in use by the road department for several years and is nearly worn out.

Applegate announced that the county will be applying for funds to clean up illegal dumpsites and asked that any dumpsites, on public or private property, be turned in. He said they will be cleaned up at no cost to the property owner.

He said all county E-911 addressing had been sent to Mapquest and will soon be accessible through that service.

County officials presented their monthly reports and Jailer Tim Underwood thanked magistrates for their approval last month on the purchase of a state surplus van for use by the detention center.

Magistrates approved payment of bills before adjourning.