The bottom line

Calculating the exact value of Kokomo’s new biodiesel program won’t be easy.

City officials estimate they’ll be able to produce 14,300 gallons a year with the new plant, at an average cost of 85 cents a gallon. That’s an annual production cost of more than $11,000, including depreciation on the machinery.

On the negative side, those figures don’t include costs associated with servicing city vehicles as they become accustomed to the new fuel blend. And although the city hasn’t hired any additional workers to run the program, the estimate also doesn’t include an estimate of personnel costs.

On the positive side, the figures also don’t take into account how much the city will save on sewer maintenance. The program is expected to divert significant amounts of oil and grease away from city sewers, where it causes blockages.

So saying the program will save about $23,000 annually in fuel costs is a guesstimate, to some extent.

No guesstimate is available, however, for all of the positive publicity the program brought to Kokomo last week.

Planet Carmel

It’s only 40 minutes away, but let’s face it, Carmel is a different world.

While perusing Kokomo’s infrastructure project wish list on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Web site, we couldn’t resist the temptation to look at Carmel’s wish list.

There we found Mayor Jim Brainard’s dreams of building 14 more roundabouts (at $1 million to $2 million a pop), a new, $2.3 million slide/wave pool for the city’s $40 million aquatic center, a $20 million garage for the City Center and $132 million to construct interchanges in place of the remaining signalized intersections along Keystone Avenue.

The Keystone project, Carmel watchers will remember, is already going to cost $50 million more than Carmel officials originally stated. The state of Indiana has already given Brainard $90 million in exchange for the city taking over the Keystone corridor.

Looking for a new chairman

With Bob Stephenson’s announcement several weeks ago that he was resigning as chairman of the Howard County Democrat Party, officials have been wondering who would be elected to the position.

As of Friday, only Rick Ward has submitted his name for the position.

The election of the new chairman is set for March 7.

How much was that chair?

During last week’s meeting of the Howard County Commissioners, Wanda McKillip, director of the personnel department, said she hired a new administrative assistant and needed to purchase a new chair.

McKillip said the existing chair was broken and, after checking with the maintenance department, learned there was none available.

She told the commissioners a chair was found that cost $388 but could be purchased for $159.

Commissioner Dave Trine said a chair would be found for McKillip’s office.

McKillip said Friday that county attorney Larry Murrell has provided a chair for her office.

“We saved the county $159,” she said.

Beginning the cutting process

The process of trimming 5 percent from county budgets for 2009 will begin this week with final recommendations to be made to the Howard County Council on Feb. 24.

Council members last month voted to appoint a committee to review departmental budgets and then report back to the full council.

Council President Dick Miller named councilmen Stan Ortman, Jeff Stout and Paul Wyman to the committee along with Dave Trine, president of the Howard County Board of County Commissioners.

Miller said proposed reductions are to be submitted to the Howard County Auditor’s Office by Thursday. The committee will meet with elected officials and department heads at 3 p.m. Feb. 17 in room 338 of the Howard County Administration Center, 120 N. Main Street. The meeting is open to the public.

The original intent of the budget reductions was for the county to save $1 million from the $19.5 million general fund used to finance most county government operations. Miller said the 5 percent covers spending in any area of a departmental budget, not just the general fund.