School district looks for ways to conserve

And you thought your utility bills were worrisome.

Spokane Public Schools expects last year’s $5.1 million bill for electricity, natural gas, sewer, water and garbage to jump almost 20 percent to $6.1 million for the current school year.

“That trend is not likely to be discontinued anytime soon,” said John Mannix, executive director of facilities and planning for the district.

But the district hasn’t given up on slowing the increase. Mannix said the district may start hauling its own garbage – a step that could save $250,000 a year. And he’s developing a plan that he hopes will shave $500,000 from annual heating costs.

“I’m not saying we turn the heat down to 68 degrees,” Mannix told the school board last week. “We want to be comfortable, but we also want to find a way to save some dollars.”

As part of the plan, two workers would monitor energy use and provide reports to building managers about their energy consumption. The workers would also educate the nearly 4,000 employees on ways they could help cut energy costs.

Mannix told the school board that adding the two full-time energy watchdogs would cost $137,000 a year and save between $400,000 and $600,000 in the first year – and potentially more than $1 million in following years. Another $29,000 would be spent on additional equipment and training to better rally district employees to save on costs.

“We’re too big for one person to do this alone,” Mannix said. “Four thousand of us can affect this change a lot better than me.”

Some of the other ideas being discussed include delaying the firing-up of school boilers until after kitchen staff and custodians arrive. Now at most schools, the earliest arriving employees come to a heated building.

“They know as long as they’re running around and are busy getting the building ready, they’re really not going to get cold,” Mannix said in an interview.

For several years district officials have repeatedly asked employees to switch off lights in unused rooms in an effort to keep the bills down. There’s been an effort to get computers shut down overnight and through the weekends.

Earlier this year, the district experimented with tracking water consumption rates in the hot months. Staff training and monthly reports on water use given to district workers resulted in a reduction of 1 million gallons of water, a savings of $70,000, Mannix said.

The new effort to conserve comes as higher energy rates are expected to hit soon.

Ten percent hikes are anticipated in the district’s $2.3 million electric bill and the $1.2 million sewer, water and refuse bills. Natural gas prices were projected to increase 27 percent with an additional 10 percent more use because winter is expected to be colder than last year, Mannix said. Last year’s natural gas bill was $1.6 million.

Another way to offset rising energy prices is for the district to haul its own refuse to the regional transfer stations, which could save a quarter-million dollars.

Mannix said he has yet to sit down and discuss the matter with the city of Spokane, which now requires garbage collection service.

“I’d love to see it before the end of the year,” Mannix said.

Central Valley School District, which is roughly a third the size of Spokane Public Schools, saves about $60,000 annually by doing garbage themselves with one beige truck with the school logo on it. That’s rare among school districts in the state, said Jan Hutton, Central Valley executive director of Finance.

When CV paid to have its garbage hauled, it was charged by the load volume – a disadvantage because the Styrofoam used to package school lunches is light but bulky. Now the district is charged solely on weight, which has reduced costs, Hutton said.

“I think it’s peaked interest in other districts,” Hutton said.