Petersburg voters approve up to $3.3 million in bonds for Scow Bay backup generator

Petersburg voters approved up to $3.3 million in electric utility revenue bonds Tuesday, Oct. 6, to finish the Scow Bay Standby Generation Project.

Proposition No. 1 passed 709 to 366, according to certified results. The Assembly, sitting as the Canvass Board, certified them Friday, Oct. 9.

The 3.5-megawatt diesel generator would provide backup power when hydropower is unavailable, according to the borough's design-build request for proposals. Rising construction costs left a shortfall the bonds would cover, the Assembly heard June 15.

"It is a revenue bond, not a general obligation bond," Karl Hagerman, then the borough's utility director, told the Assembly June 15. He said electric utility revenues alone would repay it, not taxpayers, and that the bond was already factored into the utility's rate study, so it would bring no further rate increase.

The borough's bond notice sets a term of up to 20 years and about $265,000 in annual debt service. The utility had about $6.5 million in existing debt principal outstanding as of July 1.

Site work has begun. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said in his Oct. 5 report that mechanical, wiring and control work would follow, "pending the outcome of the revenue bond vote."