VILLAGE OF MINOA – Minoa’s community solar program will get started by the end of this month, said Mayor Bill Brazill.
For the project, the municipality is partnering with Ampion, a New England-based company focused on the subscription and revenue management side for community solar endeavors.
The village’s Clemons Road solar farm will be giving residents credits that help them save on their energy bill. Brazill said the amount of community solar credits received by utility accounts that latch onto the project will be appearing in the form of a discount that comes with their National Grid bill.
Renewable Properties is the company that proposed the project, and Ampion is the company contracted to sell the energy credits.
The opportunity for people to obtain credits generated from their allotted portion of renewable energy produced by the solar field, which is located just off Baird Street, is being offered first to residents of Minoa who wish to be part of Ampion’s system.
After a certain amount of time, the opportunity to receive community solar credits will be opened up to people who live outside of Minoa.
Brazill said there will soon be a mailer sent to the homes of every resident within the village explaining how to sign up for the program. He added that anyone who signs up will receive a $50 Visa gift card for doing so.
He said there will likely be a webinar in the near future as well to share information about the community solar program and answer questions.
To sign up, residents can go to https://ampion.net/minoa?utm_source=pr&utm_campaign=minoa&utm_content=eno
In other news
The Minoa Village Board will be holding a public hearing for its tentative budget on Monday, April 1, just after annual appointments are made at that meeting around 6 p.m.
As the 2024-2025 tentative budget stands currently, Minoa’s tax rate has been cut down to $8.95 per thousand.
The last time it was that low was from 2011 to 2014, and after that the rate of $9.23 per thousand went untouched without an increase or a decrease for nine years.
It was stated that the village will be over the 2% property tax cap enacted by former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011 as a measure to curb excess spending and growing fund balances.
Minoa Clerk-Treasurer Lisa DeVona said recent assessment hikes are the main reason the village is exceeding the limit.
Deputy Mayor John Champagne mentioned that as assessments have increased lately, compensation costs, health insurance rates and pensions have gone up too.
Brazill said, however, that the 2% cap is “not a true 2%,” as the allowable levy growth factor is 1.02 this year according to DeVona.
DeVona said that when the tax rate was at $9.23, the village was over the tax cap about $258,000, but she said that if the $8.95 rate is kept in place the village will be about $188,000 over the tax cap.
