AGENDA #4e

 

MEMORANDUM

 

 

TO:                Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:          W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:     Million Solar Roofs Budget Ordinance Amendment

 

DATE:           March 24, 2003

 

 

The attached budget ordinance amendment would allocate $3,000 toward the installation of solar hot water panels on the roof of the Chapel Hill Community Center on Estes Drive, a key strategy in the Chapel Hill Million Solar Roofs Action Plan. 

 

BACKGROUND

 

On September 10, 2001 the Town Council approved implementation of the Action Plan and allocated $5,000 in Town funds for this purpose. Subsequently the Council voted to defer the allocation in response to budget shortfalls.

 

On March 5, 2003, the Chapel Hill Solar Roofs Committee requested that the Council allocate $3,000 to be used in the Committee’s planned solar demonstration project at the Chapel Hill Community Center on Estes Drive. The funds would cover the cost of equipment and hardware needed for the installation of four solar hot water panels.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The proposed Community Center solar hot water demonstration project is intended to raise public awareness about solar technology. The project will also save the Town money and benefit the environment by reducing the amount of natural gas used for water heating.

 

The Committee has secured the donation of four 4- by 10-foot solar collectors from the N.C. Solar Center. In addition, Committee members have volunteered their time to do the installation. The Town funds are needed to buy mounting hardware, a pump, holding tanks, and other equipment.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Council enact the budget ordinance amendment allocating $3,000 for the Chapel Hill Million Solar Roofs Committee’s solar demonstration project at the Estes Drive Community Center.

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “THE ORDINANCE CONCERNING APPROPRIATIONS AND THE RAISING OF REVENUE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2002” (2003-03-24/O-4)

 

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Budget Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Concerning Appropriations and the Raising of Revenue for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2002” as duly adopted on July 26, 2002, be and the same is hereby amended as follows:

 

 

ARTICLE I
APPROPRIATIONS	Current Budget	Increase	Decrease	Revised Budget
GENERAL FUND
Non-Departmental
Contingency	34,329		3,000	31,329
Planning	1,012,717	3,000		1,015,717

 

 

This is the 24^th day of March, 2003.