PAXTON — With rising electricity rates impacting the budgets of both the city and its residents, Paxton is reinstating its electric aggregation program with Homefield Energy.
Mayor Bill Ingold informed the Paxton City Council during its Feb. 14 meeting that he signed contracts with the alternative electricity supplier following a meeting with Reg Ankrom, president of Quincy-based SIMEC LLC, a consultant for Paxton’s electric aggregation program.
The contracts go into effect July 1, changing the electric supplier from Ameren Illinois to Homefield Energy for all municipal accounts for two years and residential accounts for one year.
Ingold said the city and its residents should realize a savings as a result. Ingold noted that Ameren Illinois’ rate of 14 cents per kilowatt-hour for municipal usage is higher than Homefield Energy’s rate of 8 cents, while Ameren Illinois’ residential rate of 11.833 cents is also higher than Homefield’s rate of 11.3 cents.
“And they’re expecting a jump in the Ameren rate in July,” Ingold noted.
Paxton Mayor Bill Ingold speaks with the city council during last week’s meeting at City Hall. The council’s next meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, at the same location. It is open to the public.
Anyone who wishes to continue to use Ameren Illinois instead of Homefield Energy as their electric supplier can opt out of the electric aggregation program, Ingold said.
Last summer, Ingold opted to not renew the city’s electric aggregation agreement with Homefield Energy. When the contract terminated with June meter readings, Paxton residents enrolled in the electric aggregation program automatically had their electric supply transferred to Ameren Illinois.
At the time, Ingold said he had received a letter from Ankrom recommending the city pause the program for a year to enable residents to take advantage of Ameren Illinois’ lower residential electric rate of 5.399 cents per kilowatt-hour.
“The most recent competitive-market offer we received came in at 9.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, or 70 percent higher,” Ankrom’s letter from last year said. “Ameren’s is the best rate at this time.”
Grant awarded to city for roof replacements
Also during the city council’s Feb. 14 meeting, the council learned that the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority has awarded the city a grant to help fund the replacement of roofs on private homes in Paxton.
Alderman Rob Pacey announced the news, although he did not immediately disclose the amount the city is expected to receive and, in turn, make available as grants — or “forgivable loans” — to a limited number of eligible homeowners.
“The land bank (authority) should have a press release here in a couple of weeks,” Pacey said. “Paxton and some other Central Illinois communities were awarded a grant by the state for homeowner-occupied rehabs. In this case, it will be for roof replacements. They’ll send out the details.”
Regardless of the amount, Pacey noted that homeowners will need to apply for the funds and meet income qualifications. Homeowners who receive funds would not be required to pay back the money if they continue to own the property for three to five more years, a number that varies based on the amount provided, Pacey added.
“Not everyone would qualify, and it would be for a limited number of projects,” Pacey said. “But if we can replace some roofs to allow people to stay in their home and maintain the value of their property, we’ll certainly do that.”
Pacey said the application will be on the Danville-based Central Illinois Land Bank Authority’s website, www.cilba.org.
“It’s an entirely online submission,” Pacey said. “We’ve kind of kicked around some ideas about how to help lower-income or senior citizens who may not have internet access do that, as well, but we just haven’t come up with exactly a plan for that yet.”
In a related matter, Pacey said he spoke with the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority’s attorney out of Chicago about so-called “fast-track demolition,” which the city will be exploring as an option for addressing the condition of “certain problem properties.”
Other business
Also at last week’s city council meeting:
— The council approved paying off the remaining $195,000 in principal and interest due on the $2.46 million in water and sewer bonds the city issued in 2011. The bonds will be paid off early — about five years ahead of schedule — to avoid further interest charges and fees totaling an estimated $27,000. Approval was recommended unanimously by the council’s finance and budget committee during a Jan. 24 committee meeting.
— Superintendent of Water and Sewer Bob Carleton said a fence at the wastewater treatment plant that was damaged in late October was expected to be repaired later in the week by S&K Exteriors.
— As mandated by the state, Carleton said, he and city staff are working to document the number of galvanized, copper and plastic water lines that exist in the city and to confirm that no lead lines still do.
— Superintendent of Streets and Alleys Jesse Houtzel said his crew had been busy patching streets and fixing some sinkholes the last couple of weeks “but nothing crazy.”
— Ingold said he was aware of residents wanting to see some work done on the city’s alleys, but Ingold said the weather would not yet allow it. Ingold asked residents to be patient until the spring. Meanwhile, Houtzel said he has marked out some streets to be repaired this summer and sent the list to the city’s engineers.
— City engineer Mike Friend of the Farnsworth Group in Champaign said his firm applied to Ameren Illinois for two grants totaling $46,000 that have been awarded to the city as an incentive for the installation of new energy-efficient blowers at its wastewater treatment plant.
— Police Chief Coy Cornett said investigator Trevor Norris has submitted his letter of resignation and will be returning to his native Piatt County to work. Norris had been employed by the Paxton Police Department since Oct. 9, 2019, and last summer started the agency’s online undercover sting operation targeting child predators, which has already led to the arrest of 17 men. Cornett said he would be advertising for a replacement for Norris both online and in the Ford County Chronicle starting this week. Both entry-level and lateral-entry full-time officer candidates will be considered. The starting salary ranges from $51,938 to $58,365.
— Alderman Eric Evans, chairman of the council’s city property committee, said he would like to schedule a meeting of his committee “within the next few months” to “discuss budgeting for a couple of projects,” including possibly repainting the street department and police department building at 755 N. Railroad Ave.
— The council approved the annexation of 1155 Roselawn Drive. The annexation was requested by the property’s owners, the Hendersons, the mayor said. The couple said they would like to bring their property into city limits so that it can be connected to the city’s sewer. “Because our septic (tank) is starting to die — it’s not functioning properly — and we just want to kill it all together and just hook up and be completely part of the town instead of just adjacent to it, in a way,” Mr. Henderson said. Carleton said the connection should be easy with the sewer line being just a “straight shot” from the property.
— The council approved the sale of city-owned property at 234 W. State St. to Tammy and Shane Jensen, the only bidders for its purchase. The property, located directly across from the Ford County Courthouse, was acquired by the city after the home that sat on it fell into disrepair. The home was later demolished by the city, leaving a vacant residential lot. Meanwhile, the city continues to seek a buyer for another vacant lot it owns at 137 W. Oak St. after no bids were received for its purchase.
— As a “housekeeping” measure to correct an error, according to the mayor, the council approved an ordinance setting the total number of available liquor licenses at zero for Class A, six for Class B, 10 for Class C, two for Class D, four for Class E and one each for Class G, Class CA, Class CD1 and Class CD2.
— The council learned that the city’s planning and zoning commission will consider the city’s acquisition of the southernmost 560 feet of Allison Drive during a public hearing set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at City Hall, 145 S. Market St. In an apparent oversight, that portion of the street, Ingold said, was never transferred into the city’s ownership when the Highland Ridge Subdivision was built there. If the acquisition proceeds, the city would be responsible for maintaining the section of Allison Drive spanning the addresses of 11, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 19 in the future.
— The council learned that the new chairman of the planning and zoning commission was willing to have the seven-member commission meet once a month to conduct public hearings on the proposed rezoning of parcels around Paxton. Notices will be published in the Ford County Chronicle in advance of the hearings.
— The council was presented with the city’s long-delayed annual audit report for the 2022 fiscal year — which ended April 30, 2022 — by a certified public accountant from Feller & Kuester CPAs LLP in Champaign. The city’s finances, like others’, was bolstered by grant funds totaling $288,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act and $176,000 from the CURES Act resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, plus increases in income, sales and use taxes. “On the general fund alone, the increase in revenue over expenses was $588,000,” the CPA said. “It made your numbers look good, and that’s not unusual.” Overall, the city’s finances look “very good,” he said.
— Ingold said that automated license plate reading cameras, or ALPRs, have helped in more than four dozen Champaign police investigations, including three murders in which arrests were made, the arrest of two suspected arsonists, and the recovery of 17 stolen vehicles. Paxton is preparing to install four of the devices on the edges of town this spring.
— The council approved a regional marketing partnership with Visit Champaign County for a cost of $5,000. The city plans to pay for the cost using motel/hotel tax revenue. The partnership with Visit Champaign County, the official tourism-destination marketing and management organization for Champaign County, is for one year. During a Jan. 24 meeting of the council’s economic development committee, Terri Reifsteck, Visit Champaign County’s vice president of marketing and community engagement, said the partnership would involve featuring Paxton and its hospitality-related businesses and attractions on its website, www.visitchampaigncounty.org, and helping attract tourism to the city through its marketing materials and through storytelling in its publications. Regional partners also have the chance to be nominated for the Illinois Made program, which recognizes some of the state’s unique small businesses through an annual marketing campaign.
