Roof clouds East Hampton solar plan

Tom Ruhle, East Hampton's director of housing, visited the town board Tuesday and told members the good news first: The town saved so much money installing solar panels on its multipurpose building in Amagansett that there was enough left over from a federal grant to put solar panels on the roof of the police substation in Montauk.

As part of President Barack Obama's 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, intended to stimulate the economy by funding shovel-ready projects, the town received $207,000 and used all but $90,000 of it on the Amagansett facility, which is on Bluff Road.

And Ruhle had more good news: Completing the solar panel project in Montauk would save East Hampton more than $2,000 a year on its electric bills, or more than $47,000 over 20 years, at current electric rates.

But then came the bad news. The roof underneath the planned solar panels needs to be replaced in the next few years. In addition, Ruhle learned that installing the panels now on crossbeams would only make it more expensive to take them down again before a new roof can be put on the police substation.

The solution would be to replace the roof before the panels go up, so the free, money-saving solar project will at first cost around $15,000.

"I know we can save $2,000 a year. I just don't know how to pay for it," Ruhle told the board.

Money from the grant can only be used to fund a project, so money to replace the roof must come from other sources.

Considering the wealth of some of East Hampton's residents, raising $15,000 might seem a nonissue. East Hampton has a year-round population of about 22,000, and some of the nation's wealthiest residents have summer homes there. But most of the year-round working-class families there struggle with their budgets, and the town recently had to borrow $30 million to cover the mismanagement of a former administration. The annual town budget is only about $62 million.

Ruhle capped off his list of bad news by telling the board the federal grant runs out in March, and a decision on the roof must be made quickly.

"It's like fruit on the vine that will wither unless we eat it," responded newly elected town councilman Peter Van Scoyoc.

The board agreed to discuss the repair at an upcoming work session. It could approve a new roof, or scrap the solar project, before its next meeting Jan. 19.

The substation, which resembles a small single-family house, was originally built from a kit in the 1960s, and not using plywood on the roof was a common money-saving technique for such homes, Ruhle said.