October 14, 2017
Massachusetts

Turbine shutdown causes budget shortfall

By Brad Cole | The Famouth Enterprise | www.capenews.net

Falmouth Town Meeting will be asked to approve spending $120,000 to supplement the Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

At the finance committee meeting on Tuesday, October 10, this week, Director of Finance Jennifer Petit said the town is expecting a $120,000 shortfall in its electricity and wastewater management budget due to the Barnstable County Superior Court order to shut down the town’s second wind turbine earlier this year. The pair of 397-foot-tall wind turbines were intended to power the Blacksmith Shop Road wastewater plant, and the shutdown has impacted town coffers.

“We need to supplement the budget because we won’t be generating that electricity for the wastewater treatment plant,” Ms. Petit said.

The finance committee unanimously voted to support funding this measure, which will be Article 3 at the November 6 Annual Town Meeting. The committee also supports funding Article 2, which will pay $4,072 toward unpaid bills for prior fiscal years. The largest of these bills is $2,800 for legal fees relating to arbitration.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/10/14/turbine-shutdown-causes-budget-shortfall/