This is an open letter to Montpelier voters from Mayor Mary Hooper concerning tomorrow’s special election. I’m reprinting it with her permission.

Dear Friends,  

On Tuesday Montpelier voters will consider allowing the City to bond for $2.75 million for a district heating system.  A yes vote means the City will continue considering whether a district heating system for the city and the state, with the opportunity for some downtown properties to hook on, is in our best interest.  A no vote stops the process-it releases the state’s commitment of $7 million and the $8 million federal grant will be lost to the city.  

This is a complex and evolving project.  All of us have questions, which have to be answered before we make a commitment to building the district heating system.  There is a lot of information on the project on the city’s

web site:  http://www.montpelier-vt.org .  I’ll just recite three basic facts here:

1.) The project is designed to cost no more than the city is currently spending heating three municipal buildings and two school

buildings with oil.  In other words-the cost of bonding and the cost of heating with the new system will be the same or less than the City is

currently spending when it buys 100,000 gallons of oil a year.  

2.) The approximately $300,000 we project to spend heating the five buildings will not be available to spend in another way if the bond is not approved.  

3.) If this project does not work we will not move forward with it.

And I made a mistake in my op-ed piece in the paper when I said the bond would increase the bonding of the city by 1%–it is 10%.  A big difference. I stand by the statement that it does not endanger the city financially.  I apologize for that.

Can we afford to make this investment?  We have to heat our buildings; do we believe that oil will stay below $3.05 a gallon, adjusted for inflation, over the next 20 years?  Or should we make an investment in our community to move to wood?  I think the question is can we afford not to pursue this investment?

As always, please be in touch if you have questions or concerns.

Mary

Mary S. Hooper