Monday, November 29, 2010

Performance contracting in Cheshire?

The MRJs Jesse Buchanan reports:

The town will soon release a request for energy-saving proposals as part of a performance-based contract, something the Energy Commission and former Town Councilor Tim White have pushed for years.

I thank the Council for seriously considering this as an option for engaging in a town wide infrastructure improvement and energy conservation plan.

Further into the article, Jesse had a line that suggests if you knock loud enough and long enough... they'll eventually consider what you're saying...

“Maybe people just got tired of Tim yacking about it and just did the thing,” Ogurick said. “We’ve been advocating for it for seven to eight years.”

Haha... I got a chuckle out of that line. Thanks Rich! But seriously...

Engaging in a town wide plan makes good financial sense. But besides conserving energy and saving money... if the initially planned four buildings is expanded to cover more of the towns 24 primary buildings (about 1,000,000 sq ft; 800k schools & 200k town), then this could eventually be a textbook case study in reducing the overall size and scope of government with a commensurate reduction in headcount... which would have a positive impact on our defined benefit pension plan.*

So this could have a lot of positives from the perspective of the taxpayer.

Tim White

* By "positive impact," I mean it may initially add beneficiaries to the plan. But ultimately, the first thing we need to do is get all eligible employees to close their plans. Then we can measure the liability. Then we can start paying it and reducing the liability.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tim, you were a lonely voice in the wilderness on this for so long. It's good to see you vindicated. More important, it's good to see the present Council take some initiative for cost savings, and not just dismiss the idea as did the previous council and TM.