New Haven Independent

Posted by: cedarhillresident | October 8, 2008 3:28 PM

Hey Rusconi can the citizens be part of the deal!!!!!!!!! Hmmm I wonder would that get an even bigger deal with a larger commitment of usage?? UI is leaving us high and dry anyway we owe them no loyalties!!

Posted by: Josh Smith | October 8, 2008 4:05 PM

Great job, Mr. Rusconi! Kudos to you and whoever else helped find this savings! Very good news indeed. Now if only I could generate a large quantity of energy by riding my bicycle, store that energy, and feed it into my home somehow...

Posted by: hdavid | October 8, 2008 5:19 PM

There must be a few '000s missing in the story. 60,000 kilowatt hours a year at .0815 cents per kwh amounts to all of $48.90 per year. I believe the cost is ,0815 dollars per kwh which would make our annual costs to be $4890. This too cannot be right so I will assume that our consumption is more like 60,000,000 kilowatt hours which would cost $$.9 million per year.

Apart from a few missing zeros my only comment here is Thanks for negotiating this rate decrease. Let us hope that energy costs are not going to decline even further and make these cost lockin look exorbitant.

To assess whether or not NEw Haven is conserving energy it will be necessary how much it costs per square feet of heated space based on the number of MCF of gas or gallons of oil or kwh of electricity required per square foot. These numbers are hard to get which is why it is so difficult to gauge whether or not New Haven is doing an adequate job of energy conservation.

But I will not quibble. Will this reduce my mil rate this year?? Perish the thought.

Posted by: Gary Doyens | October 8, 2008 6:35 PM

Nice. Now turn Rosconi loose on the unions; head over to he mayor's office and the BOE. Before we know it, we could see tens of millions in savings.

Posted by: Um Gary | October 8, 2008 9:47 PM

Gary,

Rusconi is the mayor's appointment to be head of the Office of Management and Budget. He was the mayor's choice to replace Frank Altieri.

No doubt he is assigned to find savings wherever he can.

Posted by: Gary Doyens | October 8, 2008 10:20 PM

How does this rate compare to 2007 rate, or the rate the city is paying year to date in 2008? And so, what's the net cash savings this year? I hate to be so cyncial, but we have been manipulated on figures in the past. Remember the property tax increase - Message Maven said it was 9% - in reality it was 15% increase.

Posted by: Gary Doyens | October 9, 2008 7:39 AM

Um, Gary:

I'm well aware of his position - From your perch, you should also know savings are only found when the mayor wants them to be found. That's why he didn't bundle and bid out city employee insurance for 20 year among other things.

Posted by: Sins of New Haven | October 9, 2008 8:45 AM

does this mean the layoffs will be rescinded?

Posted by: James | October 9, 2008 9:20 AM

No, Sins, it just means more $2,000 coat closets and some raises for the Mayor and his cronies.

Posted by: Walt | October 9, 2008 10:22 AM

Was about to re-calculate as, off the top, the published figures did not make any sense.

Glad HDavid ran the figures a bit, but he never came to a conclusion.

As of now, Rusconi's claims are just that, political claims and not of any value..

Would recalculate, but what is probably the last golf of the year beckons.

Seems Rusconi should recompute and give $$ figures which add up.

Posted by: FacChek | October 9, 2008 12:32 PM

Slow your roll Rusconi, not so fast.
The Fact checker has disclosed that in budget years 07/08 the finance department budgeted and spent out of the capital funds budget 2.5M for energy savings and conservation.

In the current budget year, 08/09, the finance department budgeted and is spending 500K out of the capital funds budget. You have yet to show in the budget any savings or reduction in taxes as a result of this spending.

You now tell the public that you re-negotiated rates and changed suppliers, that is something all of us could do as well.

So, if we spend 3M for savings, which we have not seen, then claim a 2.5M savings as a result of changing suppliers, which you have not shown in current budget, what's the deal?

Posted by: CPA | October 9, 2008 7:34 PM

Rusconi was the principal at McGladery for many years. He had previously been Controller for the city, and took in city business big time for McGladery for 20 years. I wonder why. He saw Altieri's numbers, and was the only person DeStefano could bring in to sanitize the situation. Remember Altieri was not a city employee. He was a CONSULTANT brought in by Destefano without BOA oversight. Altirei was a double dipper for ten years. ...

If you believe these savings are real then its OKAY. You are stupid. If you do not just wait for the other shoe to drop. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman and all these other good people are just the tip of the iceberg. New Haven's finances wiil be so bad that the Feds will give up on them and just laugh. Ha Ha.

No police. No education. No infrastructure.

Posted by: iwasthere | October 10, 2008 8:36 AM

It is funny the city is saving money on electricity. The citizens of New Haven will not see a savings on their taxes or any savings on their energy bill. Next year our electricity bill will go up even more. DPCU board will allow this increase to go through.