District applies for $300,000 energy grant

The Cedar Grove-Belgium School Board unanimously agreed to apply for a $300,000 energy grant this month on a recommendation from its energy consultant.

Upper 90 Energy of Madison is working with the district to finish energy-efficient  work that started a few years ago.

“We have worked with Upper 90 to look at some of our efficiency projects and there are some grants that they could help us write that would offset those costs,” Director of Buildings and Grounds Ben Lukens said.

In 2017, the district installed LED lighting in its elementary school, all three gyms, pool and outdoors.

The payback is $30,000 to $35,000 per year.

“I’m pretty confident it’s paid off by now,” Lukens said.

In 2019, the district changed about two-thirds of the lights in the high school to LED, and about a year and a half ago Upper 90 asked what other projects could be done.

More work came to light after the district had a facility study done last year during plans for a possible referendum, after a financial report that showed significant debt would be falling off soon and spending could fill the gap without raising taxes.

Lukens said some of the projects that may be part of the referendum could be addressed ahead of time.

Upgrading the rest of the district’s lights to LED made the list, aside from areas identified for remodeling in the referendum.

Other work includes weather stripping on windows and between the roof and walls, fans in the gym and the high school boiler.

Last fall, one of the school’s three boilers went down and the district has been running on two since, “just kind of getting by,” Lukens said.

A new energy-efficient boiler, he said, would do about 90% of the work of all three.

The bill for those projects is $305,000. The boiler is the most expensive item at $94,000.

Upper 90 found a Public Service Commission of Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation Grant that could pay for a portion of the work.

The district would pay all the money up front and be reimbursed $143,000 if it receives the grant. That means the district would pay $163,000.

Annual energy savings is estimated to be $36,000 a year, so the projects would pay for themselves in four years.

Business Manager Tera Rogers suggested moving any leftover money from next year’s budget to fund 46, the capital projects fund, to pay for the improvements.

“I think that that would be the most fiscally responsible way to approach it. I don’t know that I’m comfortable trying to add such a large expense into this budget,” she said.

Rogers said she isn’t comfortable adding that money to next year’s budget either, especially since the State Legislature hasn’t determined aid yet.

“I know fund 46 is there for these types of improvements. We’re not doing this on a whim. Ben and I have spent a lot of time talking about what we can do to improve the building and the savings. I think that we’re in a place that we can definitely make this happen,” she said.

The district has $1.8 million in fund 46.

The grant deadline was Friday, Jan. 22.

The goal, Lukens said, was to select projects with a quick energy payback to make the grant application look appealing.

Award recipients will be announced in February. If the district receives the grant, it has 18 months to do the projects.

The work, Lukens said, hasn’t been competitively bidded. The grant, he said, requires American-made products to be used and prevailing wages to be paid.

If the district doesn’t receive the grant, Supt. Chad Brakke said buying a new boiler would still be discussed during the district’s Committee of the Whole meetings that focus on buildings and grounds on the third Wednesday of the month.