Zatera Ul

I wrote a while back about how the county was putting $900,000+ worth of solar panels on a county building. County Commissioner Jeff Johnson (the black sheep fiscal conservative on the board) has bestowed a Golden Fire Hydrant Award on this project, and notes that it won’t pay for itself in energy cost savings until at least 2070 (very, very optimistically):

The Public Works Solar Panels? Well, after some explanation to me about how this project is not “all about the bottom line” I learned that they cost about $900,000.

Yes, these solar panels will begin to save the taxpayers of Hennepin County $15,000 per year in 2070. My 5th grade son, Thor, will be 71. I will be dead. And I’m willing to wager that the Hennepin County Public Works building in Medina will be long gone.

It was also interesting to learn that the county’s annual budget is over $1 billion dollars. (The county includes Minneapolis and suburbs; population about 1.2 million.)

I think I would like my dollar for the solar panels back, please.